Living on forever
by Reader101w
Summary: Monkey Fist wants to gain invincibility, but is stopped by Team Possible. However, Kim has to pay a price.
1. Prologue

This story has been in my thoughts for a while, I hope you will enjoy it.

**Disclaimer: **Kim Possible and related are the property of Disney which, contrary to common belief, I do not own.

**

* * *

Prologue:**

It was business as usual for Team Possible.

As Ron fought off several monkey ninjas, Kim was busy fighting their master; Lord Monkey Fist. The self-proclaimed monkey master had once again broken into a museum in order to retrieve some artifact, but Kim and Ron had been alerted in time and were able to stop Monkey Fist from leaving with his prize.

Kim ducked under a kick and shot one of her own into the monkey-man's abdomen, causing him to stumble backwards.

"KP, little help here," Ron cried as four monkey ninjas were climbing him and effectively restraining his arms and legs.

Kim grabbed one of the monkey ninjas that tried to attack her and threw the creature at one of the monkeys that held Ron, freeing him up enough to fend off the other monkeys.

A split second later, Monkey Fist slammed into Kim and together they rolled into one of the office buildings. Kim immediately kicked the monkey master away from her and got up to take him down.

Monkey Fist jumped up as well, this time holding a small knife with all kinds of runes carved into it, "You're too late Kim Possible, with this weapon I am invincible and unstoppable."

"Yeah, right," Kim smirked, "you know you're bleeding, right?"

Monkey Fist frowned and touched his cheek where he felt a stinging sensation, when he pulled his hand back, there was some blood on it from a small cut on his cheek, "How is this possible, what did I do wrong?"

"Where to begin," Kim grinned before she attacked again.

"Fine," Monkey Fist growled, "the thing still has its purposes." He caught Kim's strike with one hand and used his other hand to slam the knife into Kim's side.

"GHAAAH," Kim cried as a blinding pain overcame her.

* * *

"GHAAAH," covered in cold sweat, Kim sat up straight in her bed; her blankets were kicked all the way across the room and she had her pillow in a stranglehold.

Still shivering from the nightmare, Kim switched on the light and examined her side; no wound or scar could be seen, and the pain was gone as well.

"J-just a nightmare," Kim stammered to herself, even though she knew this had been way too real for a nightmare, not to mention the fact that she and Ron had actually taken on Monkey Fist in the museum that night, but the details were hazy and mixed with the nightmare.

Kim checked her alarm clock; it was two in the morning, "Don't care, I have to know."

"Hello?" Ron drowsily asked as he picked up the phone, "Who's there."

"Ron," Kim sounded frantic, causing Ron to immediately wake up fully and sit straight up, "What happened last night in the museum when we fought Monkey Fist?"

"That," Ron said confused, "we fought Monkey Fist... he did get away, but without being able to take anything, at least, according to the museum."

"At some point he and I rolled into an office during the fight," Kim told, "Do you know what happened afterwards?"

Ron thought for a moment, "Monkey Fist jumped out of the window of the office right after he threw you into the desk, his monkey ninjas followed soon after… you are alright, right?"

"Yeah…" Kim took a moment to take account of any sign of pain or discomfort her body was giving, "I feel great actually… I just had a weird nightmare about last night where Monkey Fist stabbed me with a knife."

"But you're sure you are alright?" Ron asked worriedly, "Maybe you've got some internal wounds."

"It doesn't feel like it…" Kim felt her side again, just to be sure, "I guess it was just a dream, sorry I bothered you this late."

"Not a problem KP," Ron said, "Your well being is more important than me losing a bit of sleep. Besides, I've called you in the middle of the night because of a nightmare too, so I guess we're even."

"Thanks Ron," Kim smiled before she hung up the phone and retrieved her bed sheets. It didn't take her long to fall asleep again.

* * *

The next day, when Kim woke up, her dream was mostly forgotten.

"Stupid monkeys," the redhead muttered when she examined her mission outfit before she put it in the washer; the pants were already tearing at the legs and the purple top was ripped beyond repair, it would maybe be suitable for training and sparring but Kim was certain she couldn't wear it in public ever again.

"Clothes got ripped on a mission?" Jim asked as he and Tim walked into the basement carrying a pile of clothes of their own; something that had taken their mother an enormous amount of patience to accomplish.

"Why do you care," Kim asked suspiciously.

"Your new mission outfit maybe pretty cool…" Jim started.

"But it's still as weak as the old one," Tim continued in their usual two person speech.

"Even the battle suit rips without a problem, even though it immediately repairs."

"What are you getting at?" Kim folded her arms, already seeing an offer come up with a nasty contract attached.

"Ever noticed that _our_ combat suit never got damaged?" Jim smirked.

"I used it only once," Kim muttered, "almost causing Drakken and Shego to die of laughter."

"We still got the material," Tim continued as if Kim hadn't said a thing, "and it's easy to embed into an outfit that looks exactly like your current mission outfit."

"What's the catch?" Kim asked, getting to business.

"Nothing," Jim smiled, earning him an even more suspicious glare from his sister.

"Except that you model the outfit once or twice," Tim added.

Kim stared at her brothers in disbelief, they would never think of something like that, unless they had spoken with…

"You talked with Monique!" it came out as an accusation; the dark skinned fashion maven had already tried to get Kim to model the new mission outfit for Club Banana. Thus far, Kim had refused with the memory of her style bursting out worldwide still in her head.

"She offered to pay us if we could convince you," Jim shrugged.

"Who are we to refuse?" Tim grinned.

Kim sighed, though with a slight smile, "I'll think about it, but don't get anything in your heads.

* * *

On the way to school Kim noticed Ron looking at her weirdly, "What's up Ron?"

"Nothing," Ron said, but there still was a tone of worry in his voice, "Are you really sure you're okay? Because you did seem to have hit your head hard on the desk yesterday."

"I'm fine," Kim smiled, "Mom checked me over and even she had to admit that I was in perfect health. It's just that I had a weird dream last night, that's all."

Ron frowned, "Weird dreams in combination with artifacts are never 'nothing to worry about', especially with Monkey Fist."

"What did he want with whatever he sought for anyway?" Kim asked, "In my dream he wanted invincibility or something."

"I don't know," Ron admitted, "We've been so busy fighting him I didn't have time to ask."

Kim chuckled, "It probably was anything monkey related anyway."

Ron shivered involuntarily, "What that guys sees in monkeys… brrr."

* * *

As they arrived on the school ground, Kim spotted Monique and walked over to the dark skinned girl, "Hey Mon, I hear you bribed the tweebs into getting me to model the new mission suit?"

"Hey Kim," Monique greeted her friend, "I tried the direct way, but you refused. A girl's got to make new plans."

"Or accept that some people don't want to show off," Kim smirked, "You got Jim and Tim thinking about reinforcing the mission outfit."

"Might not be a bad idea," Monique told, "It wouldn't do good to have you walk away from fights in torn up clothes when the media arrives.

Kim shook her head, "What is it with you and having me show off my new outfit?"

Monique rolled her eyes, "I filed them as my design, and if people start to notice those designs I move up in the fashion world, enabling me to show some of my own designs."

Kim thought about that for a moment, "So you want to use my mission outfit as a boost?"

"Kinda," Monique admitted.

"Why didn't you just ask?" Kim asked, "I thought you just wanted me to model the outfit."

"I had to be a little bit discreet about it," Monique explained, "Although the fashionistas don't have much to stand on, it's still their design. I wanted your mission outfit to be just enough to make me noticed, and from there on I can take care of myself."

"Well, I'll see what I can do," Kim told, "but I can't promise anything."

* * *

Lisa walked through the school hall, still having trouble finding her bearings sometime, when she momentarily spotted a mop of red hair. The freshman ran over there to finally meet her idolized hero Kim Possible, but the senior was already gone before Lisa made it through the crowd. Sighing, the blond haired girl turned around to get to her class.

Lisa Rosen considered herself Kim Possible's biggest fan and her parents couldn't have made her happier when they had announced that Lisa would go to Middleton High School instead of Lowerton High. Although her parents' choice had been based more on the fact that they lived on the border of both school districts and they had deemed Middleton High the best of the two, to Lisa it only meant she would share a school year with _The_ Kim Possible.

Unfortunately, over the first month of school, Lisa had only caught glimpses of the teen hero who seemed to always be on the move and often had to miss classes due to missions.

Lisa had met Kim's brothers, but the twins didn't seem too awestruck by their famous sister. They often made jokes about Kim's antics and gladly shared many stories about their sister's blunders. Lisa was sure the boys were just jealous.

Nevertheless, Lisa's wish of meeting her hero still had not been granted, and that put the young girl down more tan she wanted to admit.

"Maybe next time," Lisa muttered as she walked into history class.

* * *

At the end of the day, Lisa hadn't even seen another glimpse of Kim Possible, and as her school bus arrived, she feared that today would hold a missed opportunity again.

But then she spotted the redhead walking out of the gym building, talking agitated to another girl who was wearing a cheerleader uniform.

Not wasting a moment, Lisa grabbed her notebook that contained a picture of Kim Possible she wanted to have signed and ran across the street, "Kim Possible! Can I please have an autograph?"

* * *

"What possessed you to just walk away to take a phone call?" Kim scolded at Bonnie, "You were supposed to be my spotter, I could have broken my neck."

Even though Bonnie had to admit that this time she had crossed a line – Kim had made a really nasty fall, and Bonnie was actually amazed that the redhead had walked off unscathed – but when Kim began to use her lecture voice, the brunette couldn't help but oppose Kim.

"Look, I'm sorry you fell, is that what you want to hear?" Bonnie snapped, "You seemed to be doing okay and I really needed to take that phone call. Besides, you're not hurt anyway."

"That's it," now Kim was getting furious, "The fact that I came out unhurt doesn't mean it's okay for you to just walk away when you're a spotter. I know how to fall and land, what if it had happened to one of the less experienced cheerleaders?"

"But it didn't," Bonnie shrugged, "let it go."

"No, I won't," Kim stepped in front of the brunette so she had the girl's full attention, "You're suspended from cheerleading until further notice, if you can't play for the team, you don't belong in the team."

"What?" Bonnie glared at Kim, "You can't do that."

"I certainly can," Kim returned the glare, "And don't even bother trying to tell a teacher, because I will tell the whole story anyway."

"Without me, the team can't win any contest," Bonnie smiled deviously, content with her power over the cheerleader captain, "Or do you think you are enough to pull the team through?"

"Then we'll lose some," Kim shrugged, "I prefer a healthy team over a medal any day."

Bonnie stared speechless at her rival for a moment before storming off.

Kim sighed; she knew she'd been real harsh on the brunette, but that seemed to only way to make things clear to the girl.

"Kim Possible! Can I please have and autograph?"

Kim turned and looked at the freshman girl who was about to cross the street. However, she also saw a black Mercedes speeding way too fast in a school-zone, "Watch out!" Kim was already running towards the girl who did not seem to have seen the car.

* * *

Rick Lumen was in a hurry, like most of the time; the businessman had crammed his already overfull agenda far too full and had to race between meetings to make it all work. Of course, the money that earned was well worth a bit of hurrying for Rick.

The problem was, Rick had hoped to take a shortcut to his next meeting by going straight through Middleton. Even though the shortcut part worked in the sense of distance, the driving time was greatly increased because he had ended up in a school-zone.

"Stupid speed limit," Rick growled as he drove already too fast anyway, "Don't you understand that I'm in a hurry?"

To add to his trouble, the school bus in front of him was starting to slow down at a high school.

"Oh no, I'm not going to be stuck behind that bus while it loads up," Rick slammed the gas pedal down and hoped he could pass the bus before it had fully stopped and put out its STOP sign.

* * *

Kim's eyes grew wide when she saw in the corner of her eye that the car was speeding up instead of slowing down, "_What's with this guy?"_

Meanwhile, the blond girl was at the middle of the road and, to Kim's horror, stopped when she saw the redhead running towards her.

When Lisa saw Kim running towards her, she stopped confused, "_What's going on?"_

"Watch out!" Kim shouted again, and this time Lisa looked to her side to see the black car speeding her way. Instantly, the girl froze and could only stare wide-eyed at the vehicle rapidly approaching her.

Kim immediately noticed the frozen stance of shock and she knew she had to pull the girl away from the path of the car, because the Mercedes was already too close and going too fast to stop in time.

Rick was shocked to suddenly see a young girl crossing the street, instantly he slammed the brakes but he knew it was already too late.

But then, another girl ran up the street and shoved the younger girl out of the way, using up all of her own momentum.

To Rick, everything went in slow motion, the redheaded girl turned and jumped up with uncanny reflexes, but nothing could save her from the still fast going car.

* * *

Ron had just walked out of the school building when he saw Bonnie storm past. For a moment he was curious what had ticked the brunette off when he heard Kim shout, "Watch out!"

As Ron stared in horror, he saw Kim run up to a freshman girl and slam her out of the way of a speeding car but thereby putting herself in front of the vehicle.

"KP!" he cried as the car tires screeched and Kim jumped up to roll over the hood of the car.

But Kim was not able to jump high enough in time and with a loud THUD she was launched into the air to make a skidding landing several yards further.

"KP!" Ron yelled again as he ran over to his girlfriend, ignoring the car and the blond girl who had fallen on the sidewalk. He noticed several students grabbing their cell phone and calling 911 but his only concern was Kim.

When he arrived at the spot where Kim laid, he almost didn't dare to look; Kim was lying motionless on her back, her clothes were ripped and torn from the crash and sliding across the asphalt and one of Kim's shoes had been knocked off.

Even though Ron did no see any blood, he feared the worst.

Much to his relief, Kim was still alive and stared up him with big, scared eyes. "Ron," she whispered, "I don't feel any pain… did I break my neck?"

* * *

**A/N:** I hope you liked the start of this story, more chapters should be posted soon


	2. Hurt?

Thanks everyone for reviewing, I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.

**Disclaimer: **Kim Possible and related are the property of Disney which, contrary to common belief, I do not own.

**

* * *

Chapter 1: Hurt?**

"Ron," Kim whispered, "I don't feel any pain… did I break my neck?"

Ron stared at his girlfriend, unable to process even the very idea of such a thing being possible. Then he tore his eyes away from hers and looked her over, in the distance he could already hear an ambulance approaching.

Kim's head seemed to be at a correct angle with her torso, her arms and legs also looked okay, albeit completely limp.

"You can't move anything?" Ron asked, fearing the answer.

"I don't know," Kim apparently feared the answer as well, "I don't dare to move before my head is stabilized."

"Try moving just your toes," Ron suggested, ignoring the crowd that had gathered around them.

Kim needed a moment to shift her focus from keeping her limbs motionless to moving her toes, but when she did, she found that they moved effortlessly and without pain, "That's good, right?"

Before Ron could answer, the loud ambulance siren parted the crowd and two paramedics walked over to the teens, "Can you hear us? How are you feeling?"

"I can hear you," Kim seemed to have relaxed a bit, "I don't feel any pain, it might be shock."

The paramedic looked Kim over, "I don't see blood, but you're covered with smears of asphalt… we'll put a brace around your neck, try to relax as much as you can."

The paramedics carefully applied the brace, making sure not to move Kim's head and then placed her on the stretcher and wheeled her to the ambulance.

When Ron wanted to step in too, he was stopped by one of the paramedics, "Sorry, I can't take you in too, you'll have to go to the hospital by yourself."

* * *

As Ron stared at the disappearing emergency vehicle a white sports car pulled up next to him, "Get in," a familiar voice told.

"Bonnie?" Ron was completely dumbfounded, "What? Why? How…"

"Just get in already," Bonnie snapped, but Ron could see real concern burning below her angry features, "Or do you have your own car to get to the hospital?"

"No, I…" Bonnie gestured impatiently again, and Ron quickly stepped in.

During the drive to the hospital neither teen said a word until Ron stepped out, "Thanks Bonnie, you don't know how much…"

"It's okay…" Bonnie seemed to struggle for words for a moment, but then decided to just drive off, leaving Ron in front of the hospital.

* * *

Rick was still a bit stunned as the airbag in front of him deflated, but quickly his practical mind took over and he called his lawyer.

"Hey Stephan, it's Rick… I have a problem."

"Don't you always," Stephan answered dryly, "You've been caught speeding again?"

"Well… Kind of," Rick admitted, "I wanted to take a shortcut through Middleton, you know that place?"

"Yeah, a bit," there was a moment of silence, "It's actually on the news right now, some idiot was speeding in a school zone and…" Stephan fell silent as realization struck.

"Yeah, and I hit a kid," Rick told, "they've just put her in an ambulance, and there are already two police cars coming over here."

When Stephan spoke next, his voice was filled with stress, "You didn't hit just any kid, you hit Kim Possible. Even if you survive court, you will be lynched in the streets if she doesn't make it… maybe even if she does."

"What should I do?" Rick asked worried, mostly for his own well being.

"Get a different lawyer," Stephan told, "I don't want to get burned on this. Try Hank Perkins, he's pretty good and rumor has it he has opposed Kim Possible several times, I'll give you his number. Just never mention you got it from me, okay?"

Moments after Rick had closed the connection on his speaker set, there was a knock on his window; a police officer and a paramedic stood outside the car, "Sir, are you okay? Can you tell us what happened?"

Rick nodded numbly and allowed the paramedics to help him out of the car after they fitted him too with a neck brace, "I-I wish to speak to my lawyer before I say anything."

The police officer frowned, looking at what happened he was pretty sure the driver had been speeding when he hit the girl and apparently the man knew he had been speeding too. And it had looked like the driver had just made a phone call with somebody. The officer made a mental notice to keep a clear eye on the man's further actions.

* * *

One of the paramedics walked over to Lisa, "Are you alright?"

Lisa just sat silently and stared into the distance; because of her Kim had gotten hurt, maybe even killed. It was too much to bear for the young girl.

The paramedic gently shook her shoulder, "Can you hear me?"

Lisa turned around and stared at the woman, "It was my fault, if I had looked out before I crossed the street…" the rest of her sentence was drowned when she began to cry.

Now the ambulance with Kim had left, the gathered crowd of students focused their attention to the crying girl. Most of the teenagers were still very confused on what just had happened, but they all knew Kim must have gotten seriously hurt.

"What happened?"

"Was that car speeding?"

"Are you hurt too?"

The barrage of question only upset Lisa more, and the paramedic quickly brought her towards the school building where Mr. Barkin was already trying to regain order.

"You better call her parents," the paramedic told, "She is very upset right now."

"Yes," Mr. Barkin said, "I have just contacted Miss Possible's parents and I need to make sure her brothers are in good hands, I'll call Miss Rosen's parents immediately after."

"Okay, thank you," the woman nodded before turning her attention back at Lisa and making sure the girl would have someone to take comfort at before her parents arrived.

* * *

"I'm going to give you some anaesthetic to deal with the pain, should it suddenly come up," the paramedic explained to Kim in the ambulance; he knew severe shock could sometimes render a person unable to feel pain, but once the pain returned it always seemed extra strong. The paramedic was actually amazed that Kim was still fully conscious; something that spoke directly against the shock she should have.

"Wow, you're good," Kim remarked after feeling a slight jab at her arm, "That didn't hurt at all."

"Uh…" the man stared confused at the snapped needle; it hadn't even broken the skin.

"What's wrong?" Kim asked; she had already carefully, and successfully, tried to flex her fingers and move her wrists, and the pain had still refused to come.

The paramedic was about to try another needle when the ambulance arrived at the hospital where two other paramedics opened the doors and pulled the stretcher with Kim out.

Kim's mother stood already at the entrance; her shift had just ended when Mr. Barkin's call had reached her, "Kimmie!"

Kim's fear was changing more and more into confusion as she, despite the risk of aggravating wounds she already had, lifted her arm and moved it around a bit, "Mom, I got hit by a speeding car, but I think I'm completely okay… how can that be?"

* * *

Ron ran over to the reception desk, "My girlfriend has just been brought here by ambulance, she was in a car accident, her name is Kim Possible, which room is she at?"

"Easy there," the receptionist said, "everyone can claim to be Kim Possible's boyfriend. And if she was in a car accident, she might first go to trauma surgery."

At that moment, Mr. Dr. Possible walked in, "Ronald, what happened to Kim? Where is she now?"

"I just got here too," Ron told, "and he won't let me go see Kim."

"What?" James Possible turned to the receptionist, "Do you know where Kim is brought to?"

Before the receptionist could answer, another voice spoke up, "James, Ron."

Both men turned around to see Mrs. Dr. Possible, "You have to come with me… something strange is going on."

"Is KP okay?" Ron asked worried as they ran over to Kim's mother, "Will she make it?"

"Yes," Mrs. Dr. Possible said vaguely, as if she was as lost as Ron and James, "Kimmie is okay and doing fine…"

Shortly after, they arrived at a hospital room where Kim was sitting up on the bed, her neck brace still in place, looking in a confused trance at her arms from where she was trying to remove the asphalt stains.

"KP?" Ron asked, completely unable to place the situation; he had seen how the car had hit Kim and send her flying, but now she seemed totally unharmed.

"Hey Ron," Kim smiled automatically; still much in the same stupor as Ron.

"Mr. Barkin called and told us you were hit by a speeding car," Mr. Dr. Possible said, "I was afraid of the worst."

"We all were," Kim's mother told, "can you explain what happened?"

Finally, Kim managed to force her mind from the bizarre situation and work out the affairs of the past hour, "I was trying to prevent a young girl from being hit by that car," Kim began, "but I couldn't get out of the way in time, and the car hit me."

The redhead thought for a moment, "I can actually remember flying through the air and hitting the street, I don't think I lost consciousness for one moment, but I don't remember any pain if I had it."

"But you didn't only come out of the accident unhurt," Mrs. Dr. Possible said, "when the paramedic tried to insert a needle with painkillers, he broke two needles on your skin."

"Do you think it has something to do with your dream last night?" Ron suddenly asked, causing all three Possible's to look at him.

"What dream?"

Kim told her parents about the dream, or nightmare, she had the night before. "Monkey Fist did want invincibility in my dream," Kim then said, "But such a thing is not possible, right?"

"We've faced stranger," Ron shrugged and Kim had to agree, although this sitch scored pretty high on the weird scale.

"But what now?" Mr. Dr. Possible asked, "If you just walk out of the hospital without any injury, you will certainly raise some eyebrows."

"And that attention may not be all positive," Kim agreed, she turned to her mother, "I take it the paramedic will not tell anyone?"

Kim's mother grinned, "I know him, he's a good friend, he won't talk if I ask him."

"Did anyone else see my what really happened?" Kim asked, especially to Ron since he had seen the whole ordeal.

"No," Ron told, "Everybody thought you got seriously hurt."

"Okay," Kim thought for a moment, "How much can we downplay the injuries and still make them believable?"

"After a hit like that, you should probably have broken some limbs," Mrs. Dr. Possible said, "and of course the scrapes from skidding the asphalt."

"Speaking of which, can I remove the neck brace?' Kim asked, "It's really annoying."

"I prefer we wait until you get an x-ray," Kim's mother told, "just to be sure."

"Okay, fine," Kim sighed, "and then we have to prepare some believable fake injuries… can you make it such that I can still move around easily?"

"Leave that to me," Kim's mother smiled, "But first I want to make sure you are really okay."

* * *

Bonnie had sat for hours in her car on the hospital parking lot, pondering what to do. Even though she didn't generally like Kim, she respected the redhead on some level and surely didn't wish something like this on her rival.

But at the moment, all Bonnie wanted to know was what kind of damage Kim had taken. Broken limbs she had no real trouble with, those would heal. Scraped skin was a bit more troublesome; Bonnie already felt shivers run up her spine when she thought about the scars that could leave.

What the brunette was most worried about though was whether Kim would have any cranial damage, because that could be partly Bonnie's fault as well, and she was not really sure if she could live with that.

Finally, after what had seemed like an eternity but was actually three hours, Kim emerged with her parents and Ron.

Bonnie gasped when she saw that Kim was in a wheelchair, but sighed in relief when Kim wasn't wearing a neck brace; only her leg seemed to be in a cast and many bandages covered her skin on various parts.

Glad that her car was mostly hidden from view by two vans, Bonnie watched as the Possibles climbed into their minivan. But just when Bonnie wondered how they would get Kim in the wheelchair in, the redhead quickly looked around her and then stood up with surprising ease and rapidly entered the vehicle.

Bonnie's jaw fell wide open, she didn't register Ron folding up the wheelchair and handing it to Kim, not did she notice the minivan driving off; all that played in her head was the image of Kim jumping up as if she had shrugged off all injuries in a mere moment.

"_Something is way off,"_ Bonnie pondered after she regained some of her senses, "_No-one can walk away so easily from such an accident… not even Kim Possible."_

But Bonnie couldn't put her finger on what was wrong. Deciding to keep this bit of knowledge a secret for now, she started her car and drove off, determined to get to the bottom of this.

* * *

"Did you have to do that?" Ron asked when he sat next to Kim in her parents' minivan, "What if someone saw you?"

"This was a lot easier," Kim shrugged, "and I don't think anyone saw us. Besides, even if they did see me, they would just assume I could still walk a bit."

Ron had to agree with that logic, but it didn't feel completely good, "You should watch out though, too many people know of the car accident and if the wrong persons find out about your new ability..."

Kim smirked, "What can they do to me?"

"They could hold you captured," Kim's mother said from the front seat of the car, "And try to obtain whatever it is that makes you invulnerable to harm."

"Okay," Kim sighed, "you have a point… but I already hate this stupid leg cast."

The four had decided to put a leg cast around Kim's leg as it would be more convincing than an arm cast and, more importantly, allowed Kim the use of both her hands. For the rest of the treatment, they had put bandages on most of the spots where Kim had had asphalt stains on her skin; Kim had been amazed how easy it was to remove those stains when you had an indestructible skin.

"You'll have to live it down for a couple of weeks," Kim's mother insisted, "You been known to recover quickly from injury, just as Ron, so most people will buy that you're up and running in about five to six weeks."

Kim groaned, "I have to pretend to be hurt for that long?"

"You'll have someone to take care of you," Ron smiled as he put his arm around Kim's shoulder, "Besides, when no-one's looking you don't have to pretend."

"Also remember that if whatever make you indestructible hadn't happened, you wouldn't be pretending," Mr. Dr. Possible said.

That made Kim gulp; ever after she found out she had come out of the accident unhurt, the thought of what could have happened hadn't crossed her mind anymore.

"Don't think about it," Ron told, "if you go down that road…"

"You're right," Kim shivered slightly, "I'm glad I'm okay though… I hope Wade soon finds out what exactly happened."

In the hospital they had contacted Wade about the situation, the young genius had promised to dive into it immediately. Kim had told him to keep the team on a low profile until she had 'recovered', but should something serious come up Team Possible would be ready.

* * *

When they arrived at the Possible residence, Ron wheeled Kim inside the house. Jim and Tim, who had come home several hours before after Mr. Barkin had been told that Kim was relatively okay, walked into the living room to see their sister's condition.

Relieved that Kim was well enough to be released from the hospital, the twins couldn't help but mock her a bit. "With that wheelchair it must be impossible for you to get up to your room…"

"…Maybe we should go up there to make sure you properly stored you diary."

"Tweebs!" Kim utterly shocked her brothers when she jumped out of the wheelchair and grabbed them by their collars, "I'm warning you…"

Seeing Jim and Tim's looks of astonishment, Mr. Dr. Possible looked at his wife, "I thought you told them about what happened?"

"I thought you did that," Mrs. Dr. Possible said, chuckling slightly at the twins' situation.

"I take it now they know," Ron grinned.

* * *

"Whoa, so you're completely indestructible?" Jim asked excited after he and Tim were told about what had happened, they had already completely forgotten their earlier shock.

"Can we test it?" Tim asked, equally excited.

"Just like Wade," Kim smirked, "no problems with the unexplainable and wanting to test it all."

As if on cue, the Kimmunicator beeped and Wade's face showed on the screen, "Did you find anything Wade?" Kim asked.

"I did find something on the knife you described from your dream," Wade told, "It's an old Egyptian artifact that was part of a series of weapons used by the 'Priests of the netherworld', a sect that supposedly guarded the gates between this world and the next."

"Okay," Kim said, a bit uncomfortable, "what does it do?"

Wade looked at one of his others screens that showed the information, "Apparently, a priest had to be part of both worlds, so they were 'killed' by one sect leaders only to rise again and become a guardian."

"But the knife never was part of the museum collection, right?' Ron asked.

"I was wondering the same thing," Wade admitted, "but when I checked again, it showed that the knife was misplaced in a different weapons collection and never properly registered."

"But where is the knife now?" Kim asked, "Did Monkey Fist get away with it? And can he do the same thing as what happened to me?"

"I don't know," Wade told, "I'll keep searching for Monkey Fist, if we can catch him, we might get some answers."

* * *

"Ron, how is Kim doing?" Monique, Felix, Tara and Zita assaulted Ron when he walked onto the school grounds the next day.

"She's doing relatively good," Ron told, "she is already released from he hospital but has to stay home for a couple of days. KP hopes to get back to school Monday."

In fact, Kim had wanted to go to school already, but her mother had told her that it would look very suspicious and wouldn't allow her to go back to school before the weekend. Kim had reluctantly agreed and was now probably getting bored out of her mind at home.

"What are her injuries?" Monique asked.

"Broken leg and quite some scrapes," Ron said, "and a minor concussion."

"Wow," Zita shook her head in disbelief; "From what I heard Kim was hit so hard she flew over a dozen yards before hitting the street… she got really lucky."

"You don't know half of it," Ron muttered low enough so that his friends couldn't hear.

"I hope they make sure that that driver gets what he deserves," Felix said with a lot more venom in his voice that the others were used from him. Seeing his friends stare at him, Felix patted his paralyzed legs, "I got this in a car accident too, they never caught the driver though."

"I didn't know that," Zita gasped.

"I don't like to talk about it much," Felix sighed before his usual smile returned, "What has happened, happened; living in the past doesn't work, believe me."

As they walked to class, neither of the four saw Bonnie looking suspiciously at Ron.

* * *

Kim sighed as she hobbled through the house, although her leg was fine, the cast was influencing her walk, giving her a waggle when moving around.

But the cast was not really a problem; Kim knew she would get used to it soon enough. It was the boredom that got to her, she was not allowed to get out of the house because maybe one of the neighbours would see her, her homework was already done and it would probably still be hours before either Ron, her parents or her brothers would come home. "I'm waiting for my brothers to come home from school," Kim sighed again, "I don't think I ever got this bored."

Thinking of her brothers, Kim remembered the list they had given her with some test she could try to determine the extent of her invulnerability. Kim quickly retrieved the list and looked it over.

"Wouldn't do bad as a torture ideas list," the redhead chuckled; although the list started mild with needle jabs and hot water contact, it soon developed to dangerous and bordering on suicidal suggestions, stuff Kim was not really inclined to do, and if she did it only under careful supervision.

"Okay tweebs," Kim said to no one in particular, "I'll do the easy stuff, but the rest of the list goes through mom's approval first."

Even though the car accident had already put a relatively high benchmark for Kim's new ability, she decided to start with the lowest item on the list anyway.

Kim used a sharp sewing needle and tried to stab her finger, quickly it became apparent that her skin would first bend under the force but remained fully intact until the needle snapped.

"Guess that one's down," Kim smirked as she checked off the needle. Similar results were achieved with knives and scissors, although with the latter Kim found something very interesting.

On a hunch, Kim had tied to cut off a few strands of hair to see how far her invulnerability reached. To her surprise she found that the strands did not budge under the force of the scissors until she tried to cut off the ends of her hair; those were cut off perfectly normal.

"I think this is something Wade would want to know," Kim pondered as she made a mental notice to tell the technical genius.

Kim tried several other things on the list, all getting the same result; she was almost certainly indestructible.

Just when Kim was deciding whether to take on some of the more dangerous options on the list, the doorbell rang.

Remembering that she was supposed to be recovering from a severe car accident, Kim carefully - and using the crutches she had been provided - walked to the door and looked who stood outside.

A man in a business suit was patiently waiting for someone to open the door.

When Kim opened the door he introduced himself as Harold Holding from the state court, "Are you Miss Kimberly Possible?"

"Uhm, yes," Kim told, noticing the surprised look Harold gave her; apparently he had expected her to be in a much worse condition – not surprisingly, "What is this about?"

"I was told that you had already been released from the hospital," Harold said uncomfortably, "I was hoping one of your parents would be at home as well."

Kim gave a small smile, "I was doing so well that we decided I didn't need babysitting," that was mostly true, except of course that Kim was actually completely unhurt.

"Well, Mr. R. Lumen, the driver of the car that hit you has been arrested for driving recklessly and will possibly be charged with causing severe and possibly lethal injury," the attorney told, "And since you are both victim and witness in this case Mr. Lumen's Lawyer, Mr. Perkins, insisted on you attending the court."

"Perkins is a lawyer?" Kim asked confused, "I thought he was a consultant."

"Mr. Perkins works in multiple branches," Harold sighed, showing his feeling about the slick consultant/lawyer.

"Tell me about it," Kim smirked; the few times she had to deal with Hank Perkins he had been a real annoyance, especially when he managed to significantly increase Drakken's game.

"He probably thought he could gain some more time with his set-up," Harold said, "giving him time to decrease the charges on Mr. Lumen as best as he can. But seeing that you a relatively okay, do you think it is possible for you to attend court in a short amount of time?"

"Of course you should first discuss this with your parents," Harold quickly said when he saw Kim's slightly panicked expression, "And you should probably also discuss with your family lawyer if you have one."

"Yes…" Kim said absent-minded, "I will tell my parent, we will contact you as soon as we can."

"Thank you," Harold smiled as he handed Kim his business card, "Just call the second number on the card… I do hope you will recover soon, you have done a lot of great work for the community."

After Harold had left, Kim sat down on the couch, the list completely forgotten. If her mother hadn't come home about fifteen minutes later, she would have probably sat there all afternoon.

"Hey Kimmie," Mrs. Dr. Possible said as she walked in, "What's gotten you down?"

Kim looked at the bandage covering most of her arm, "Do you consider these bandages fake?"

"What are you talking about," Kim's mother frowned as she sat down next to her daughter, "Tell me what happened today."

Kim nodded and told her mother about Harold and the coming court, "But if I were to go there, pretending to be hurt, wouldn't it be… lying?"

"And you can't tell anyone what really happened," her mother nodded understanding, "I see your point."

"But Hank Perkins is probably going to insist that I attend," Kim sighed, "What should I do?"

"You don't have to attend," Mrs. Dr. Possible told, "At least, not as the victim, but I have heard of some cases where such a thing caused a major reduction in punishment."

"Where did you hear such a thing anyway?" Kim frowned.

"Working in a hospital you get to hear these kind of stories," Kim's mother smirked, "You didn't think you were the only one having a car accident, right?"

"No, but I didn't know there were so many prosecutions following those," Kim admitted.

"Well, We'll talk it through with our lawyer," Mrs. Dr. Possible told, "he probably knows best."

"Okay," Kim smiled, then she remembered the list Jim and Tim had made, "The tweebs made me a list a stuff to try and determine what I am invulnerable against," she told as she retrieved the list, "But some stuff is pretty dangerous and I don't think those are a good idea to do."

"Let me see that list," Mrs. Dr. Possible held out her hand, after reading for a short while she handed the list back to Kim, "It's a good thing do didn't follow through with this, I have a word with Jim and Tim."

"I want to be there when you tell them," Kim grinned mischievously.

"Oh, and one other thing," Kim mothers looked sternly at her daughter, "I don't want you acting like you are invulnerable, even if you are. Is that clear?"

"Of course," Kim said sincerely, "We don't even know what caused this, it may not last forever anyway, I wouldn't want to take such risks."

"It's easy to say that now," Kim's mother told, "But in the coming days you may start to find out what it really means to be immune to harm. Even in the small stuff, like carrying hot plates I want you to consider your safety. And believe me, that will be hard if you can't feel pain."

* * *

**A/N: **I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I appreciate reviews. Edit: fixed some grammar


	3. Invulnerable to harm not hurt

Thanks everyone for reviewing, I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.

**Disclaimer: **Kim Possible and related are the property of Disney which, contrary to common belief, I do not own.

**

* * *

Chapter 2: Invulnerable to harm, not hurt.**

The next day, Bonnie walked through the school halls deep in thought; something was off with Kim and she couldn't put her finger on it, which frustrated the brunette to no end.

First there was Ron; he was way too calm for what had happened to Kim, he should have been furious. Instead, he acted like it didn't really mean anything to him. Except when people asked about Kim's injuries; he seemed to be getting pretty nervous then.

Not looking where she was walking, Bonnie almost stumbled over a freshman girl who seemed to be equally deep in thought.

"Watch it," the brunette snapped, but then she recognized the girl, "_Isn't that the girl Kim pushed away from the car?"_

"I'm sorry," the girl said in a meek voice, almost breaking out in tears.

The gears immediately started to work in Bonnie's head; she needed an in on Kim's situation, seeing as the redhead would probably not indulge on what really happened during the car accident to Bonnie. If she played it well, the freshmen girl could help her out.

Putting on her best smile. Bonnie looked at the girl, "Hey, I'm sorry. I was just thinking about what happened to Kim; she got hit by a car two days ago."

"I know," Lisa snivelled, "and it was because of me."

Bonnie suppressed a victorious grin, "How could that be, you weren't driving the car, right?"

"No, but because of me she got in the way of the car. Kim Possible tried to save me because I stupidly crossed the street."

"_This is just too easy,"_ Bonnie thought, "I don't think Kim would see it that way. And besides, I heard she is doing relatively well and that she may be back at school on Monday."

"Really?" Lisa perked up a bit.

"Yeah," Years of manipulation made it easy for Bonnie to put up a sincere smile, "Hey, here's an idea; why don't you go by her house tomorrow and check how she is. Then you two can talk without everyone else around."

Lisa gulped, "_Going to the house of Kim Possible?"_

"I don't know, she may not want to see me…"

"Off course she will," Bonnie told, "what is better than getting someone to visit you when you're ill or recovering, and a huge fan none the less…" Seeing Lisa's reaction, Bonnie knew she had guessed correct.

But the blond girl was still reluctant, "But why won't you go? Wait, didn't I see you before when Kim Possible was arguing with you?"

"_She saw that?_" Bonnie quickly recovered, "Yeah, we had a bit of a fight, I don't think she really wants to see me now… but maybe you could tell me how she is, and what her injuries are."

"Sure," Lisa smiled, convinced that Bonnie was as concerned as she was, "I-I'll go see her."

"Great," Bonnie mirrored the younger girl's smile, "Here, let me give you her address."

* * *

Monkey Fist paced through his castle, his monkeys wearily following his movements.

"_What had happened that night at the museum?_" According to his monkey ninjas they had fought Team Possible, but Monkey Fist had woken up that night in his castle thinking he had dreamt it all.

More importantly, the knife he wanted to steal was gone, but his sources inside the museum had told him that the weapon had been missing ever since that night.

"GRAAHH," the self proclaimed monkey master shouted, "How could this have gone wrong?"

He remembered the moment in his dream where he had stabbed Kim Possible with the weapon. None of his monkeys knew of this because it had happened in an enclosed space, but Monkey Fist could still see it like it happened ten minutes ago.

The redhead had cried in agony as she clutched her side where Monkey Fist had most likely hit a kidney. Monkey Fist remembered his thoughts just before he had jumped out of the window, "_Now let's see if the buffoon can do anything with the girl gone._"

Of course, at that moment he had woken up in his bed, completely confused about the realness of the dream.

"_But did I take the knife with me?"_ the English lord pondered as he treaded his almost ritual pacing circle once again, "_And where is it now?"_

Monkey Fist was still mulling when two of his monkey ninjas walked in carrying a plate with dinner, they also reminded him of the villain convention next week.

"That will be all, thank you," Monkey Fist said absent-mindedly, but decided to drop the matter and have dinner first. Maybe the villain convention would take his mind off it a bit. At least he could have some fun there; the conventions always made for interesting news and just plain old good ideas.

* * *

"Come on, I got to be able to do this," Kim said deep in focus as she once again tried to manoeuvre the wheelchair between the couches and chairs in the living room.

"I see why you want to be able to ride a wheelchair so I don't have to push you all the time," Ron told from the couch, "But do you need to be able to do the difficult stuff as well."

"Of course," Kim grinned, "Look, I can already do a wheelie," to show what she meant, the redhead leaned backwards while holding on to the wheels of the wheelchair, causing her to balance on the larger rear wheels of the chair, "I can even ride a bit."

She managed to ride a short bit on the rear wheels before she began to lose balance, "Whoa!"

Ron rushed over to catch her, but couldn't prevent Kim from falling backwards. Kim was already out of the wheelchair before it had fully fallen down though and she quickly righted it and climbed back in.

"Now what did I say about doing dangerous stuff?" Kim mother scolded as she chose that moment to walk back into the living room.

"Sorry mom," Kim muttered, looking down embarrassed, "But I would have done this too if I really was stuck to a wheelchair, except for the climbing back in part."

"She would," Ron nodded, earning him a raised eyebrow from his girlfriend.

"Well, I don't want it happening," Mrs. Dr. Possible said firmly, "Or do you want a 'cool down' too?"

"No mom," Kim said, "I'll behave."

When Jim and Tim had come home earlier that day, their mother had asked about the list and how much they had thought it through. They ended up being grounded for the rest of the day, a mild punishment according to Kim.

"Good," Mrs. Dr. Possible smiled, "Ron, would you fetch the boys, dinner is ready."

"Sure thing Mrs. Dr. P," Ron walked upstairs to get Jim and Tim.

"I could do that," Kim muttered.

"No way young lady," her mother told, "as long as you have the bandages and the cast, you'll act like them too. You better get used to it."

"Fine," Kim sighed and drove the wheelchair to the dinner table where she switched to a normal chair because the wheelchair wasn't high enough to properly reach the table.

"I hope you boys learned your lesson," Mrs. Dr. Possible said when Jim and Tim arrived at the table, "And I better not see you trying out dangerous experiments on your sister."

"But mom…" Tim began their complaint.

"…What if Kim is only invulnerable to physical harm," Jim added.

"And what if someone tried to poison her."

"And what about mystical weapons?" Ron suddenly added.

Kim frowned; whatever had happened to her was clearly in the supernatural range, perhaps they needed an expert on that.

"Maybe we could pay a visit to the Yamanouchi school," Ron suggested as if he had read KIm's mind, "I have a feeling that Sensei may know a little about weapons like these as well."

"We could do that," Kim agreed, "but we have to make sure the news about me being indestructible doesn't leak out any further."

"I don't think Sensei will talk," Ron smiled, half joking.

"No, but Yamanouchi has enemies that try to keep a close eye on the school," Kim told, "And one of them is Monkey Fist."

"You have a point," Ron admitted, "but I think we still need to go see Sensei."

"Alright," Kim conceded, "but not before next week, maybe Monkey Fist will just have given up by then and started looking for something else."

* * *

Kim sighed as she was once again alone in the house, "It's a beautiful Saturday, I want to get out."

Kim's mother was working at the hospital while her father was at some teambuilding day for his work; meaning he would probably play golf for the entire day.

Jim and Tim were out playing soccer with some friends and Ron was at his home working on a homework assignment Mr. Barkin had given him the day before.

Kim had offered to help but Ron had refused, saying that Mr. Barkin had stated that he would have to do it alone and that the vice principal would most likely recognize Kim's style if she helped him.

"Well, I can at least go to the backyard and catch some sun," Kim spoke to herself and began preparing for just that.

When she had finally gotten into the backyard - no easy feat in the wheelchair, but she had to take the neighbours into account – Kim switched over to one of the lawn chairs and laid back, taking in the still nice autumn rays.

When Kim was just beginning to relax, she faintly heard the doorbell ringing.

"Why now?" Kim muttered as she got up and back into the wheelchair before answering the door.

"Can I help you?" Kim asked when a younger girl, most likely a freshman stood at the front door, "Wait… aren't you that girl who almost got under the car?"

The other girl's eyes grew wide an she seemed about to cry, "ImsosorryIgotyouhurt."

"Hey, relax," Kim said, a bit taken aback, "Take a deep breath."

Lisa took a deep, shivering breath, "I'm so sorry you got hurt… it was all my fault…"

"Wait, hold on," Kim interrupted the girl, "what makes you think it was your fault? If anyone's to blame, it's the driver of that car."

Lisa was about to object when Kim spoke again, "Why don't you come inside? If you want, I can get you something to drink."

The girls eyes grew even bigger than before; "_Kim Possible's home? I can actually get inside?"_

Misinterpreting Lisa's shocked expression, Kim smiled encouragingly, "I won't bite. What's your name?"

"L-Lisa," Lisa told when she followed the older girl inside.

* * *

"D-does it hurt?" Lisa meekly asked as she sat down on the couch while Kim went to the kitchen to get two cans of soda.

"Hmm?" Kim asked, "No… I've felt worse some times, fighting off villains and their henchmen enables you to deal with pain pretty quick."

"Will you be able to do that again?" Lisa asked, "Fighting villains I mean."

"Yeah," Kim smiled, "according to the doctor I'll be fully up and running in a couple of weeks."

Lisa gaped at the redhead, "That's amazing."

"I guess I got pretty lucky," Kim said, knowing that Lisa wouldn't know half of how lucky Kim had actually been, "Hey, I'll let you in on a little secret."

"What?" Lisa asked confused.

Kim put the wheelchair on its break and carefully stood up, "I can already walk a bit again… don't tell my mother though, she wants me to heal up enough first."

As Kim hobbled to the couch and sat next to the younger girl, Lisa couldn't help but stare again, "When I saw you got hit… I thought…" she began to snivel again.

"Hey, don't worry," Kim put her arm on Lisa's shoulder, "I'm okay."

"Yeah, I know…" the blond girl gave a watery smile, "Because you are Kim Possible… you can do anything."

Kim was momentarily confused, but then she recognized the similar tone that her cousin Joss had used during her days of Kim Possible Adoration, "So, you a fan?"

"Yeah," Lisa chuckled embarrassed, "I was so happy that I could attend the same school as you do… but your brothers don't seem to care."

"They sure don't care that much," Kim smirked, recalling the many times Jim and Tim had kept on teasing her despite her being exhausted or injured from a saving the world mission, "Jim and Tim have grown used to it I guess."

Lisa shook her head, still unable to understand why Jim and Tim wouldn't be awestruck by their famous sister, then she looked up and smiled meekly at Kim, "Could I… have your autograph?"

Kim had to stifle a laugh, "Sure you can," she accepted the notebook from the younger girl, "You know, you could have asked me in school."

"I tried to," Lisa admitted, "But I kept missing opportunities… until… well…"

"When I got hit by the car," Kim finished.

"Yeah," Lisa looked down, "I wanted your autograph so much, I didn't watch when I crossed the street, so it _is_ my fault that you got hurt."

"Just put that thought out of your mind," Kim said firmly, "don't put yourself into such a guilt trip. Yes, you didn't watch out, but that guy in the car was speeding… way over the speed limit."

"I know," Lisa said, but Kim could see the girl was now starting to get scared of her.

Putting her arm on the younger girl's shoulder again, Kim smiled, "Relax, maybe you should learn a bit from the tweebs… Jim and Tim," she added, seeing Lisa's confused look, "I'm just a normal person. What I do may be a bit out there, but there are many more people helping whichever way they can."

Kim took a deep breath, ordering her thoughts, "What I'm trying to say is; you shouldn't idolise people for what they do, you should be inspired to do things to help out yourself. And that can be in the very small stuff, just helping a cat out of a tree can be rewarding, or helping an elderly person cross the street."

Lisa smiled, more genuinely now, "You're right, I-I'll try to be more like you… the helping thing I mean," she quickly added after a slight frown from Kim.

The girls chatted for a little while longer until Lisa had to return home, Kim held in a chuckle for the younger girl much more confident posture, she hoped Lisa could maintain that new attitude.

But as she closed the door, the redhead sighed; she had really wanted to show Lisa that she had been unharmed so the girl wouldn't feel so guilty anymore.

"This is difficult in ways I never imagined," Kim muttered to herself, looking at her cast and bandages.

* * *

"How was your day Kimmie?" Kim's mother asked when she returned from work.

"Boring," Kim sighed, "Although I did meet up with Lisa, the girl who almost got hit by the car."

"How was she taking it?" Mrs. Dr. Possible asked.

"Pretty bad at first," Kim grimaced, "but I think I got through to her though. It's just… I almost told her I was unhurt."

"Kim, you know you can't tell anyone," Kim's mother told, "You said it yourself already."

"I know, and I didn't," Kim said, "but she looked so guilt-ridden, I kinda felt bad for her."

"Well, you'll just have to hold up for a couple of weeks," Mrs. Dr. Possible smiled.

"Yeah, until I get 'hurt' again," Kim muttered, "these things tend to seek me out, you know."

"Then you'll just have to be careful," the older possible woman told, "I know I'd be happier for it."

* * *

Later that day, after dinner, Ron passed by, "Hey KP, how are you holding up?"

"Still the same," Kim smirked, giving Ron a slight kiss, "How did your assignment go?"

"It was terrible," Ron muttered, "I worked the whole day on it, but at least it's finished now."

"Great," Kim smiled, "maybe tomorrow we can go out, somewhere where I won't have to pretend to be hurt."

"Heh," Ron chuckled, "hard to find such a place and find a good reason to go there."

"I know," Kim sighed, "well, at least we can hang out together."

* * *

"How did it go? How was she doing?"

"WHAAH!" Lisa almost jumped out of her skin when Bonnie practically ambushed her, "Why did you do that? Wait… have you been waiting here?"

"Of course not," Bonnie snapped irritated, "I… just happened to walk by when I saw you. And since you left Kim's house, I was curious how she was doing."

"Right," Lisa frowned, "Well… Kim seems to be doing fine, she is recovering quite quick."

"How quick?" Bonnie pressed, "Did she, like, start walking around?"

Lisa looked confused at the older girl, "Well, yeah actually. She told me she could already stand on her own a bit and walk with the crutches." The blond girl caught herself, "You can't tell anyone though."

"Yeah, I won't," Bonnie told absentmindedly.

Neither of the girls noticed the blue sedan with tainted windows that drove off as they departed.

* * *

"This is nice," Kim smiled as Ron pushed her in the wheelchair through the park, "Though I could've walked if we brought the crutches."

"I know you could," Ron grinned, "and that's why we didn't take them."

Kim turned around in the chair to give her boyfriend a swat on his chest. Ron just laughed and continued pushing the wheelchair until they reached a partly shaded spot with some benches that were currently unoccupied.

"Alright, let me at least sit on the bench," Kim said, "You know I don't like this chair."

"Why not?" Ron asked, "It's comfortable, right?"

"Yes," Kim muttered, "but it makes me feel, you know… helpless."

Ron shook his head, "KP, you got to play the part. You know you would have been confined to the wheelchair if you hadn't turned indestructible."

"I know," Kim sighed, "but I wouldn't have liked it any more."

"So it _is_ true," a familiar voice suddenly called out, shocking both teens.

"Yori?" Kim gasped as the ninja emerged from between the trees, Ron was still clutching his chest as he slumped down on the bench, "D-don't d-do that… e-ever again."

Kim turned to her boyfriend, "Cut it out Ron, she didn't scare you that much," turning back to Yori, she frowned, "What are you doing here? And how much did you hear?"

"We heard stories about Monkey Fist and how he tried to obtain what must never be gotten," The ninja told, "When you two ruined his plan, we thought it was over. But then we heard about your car accident."

"Let me guess," Kim sighed, "you thought that I had gotten a bit too lucky and put two and two together?"

"I am not sure if I fully understand your American expression," Yori said, "But yes, we figured out that you may have obtained what no mortal should ever be bestowed on."

"Ok, wait, back up a bit," Ron interrupted, "are we even talking about the same thing? I mean that weapon that Monkey Fist used was Egyptian, right?"

"Yes," Yori admitted, "not even the great masters of old times had dared to experiment with such powers. Only the ancient Egyptian priests were comfortable enough with the realm of death to do such a thing."

"Okay…" Kim frowned, "Maybe you can tell me what exactly happened to me?"

"We wanted to get to Yamanouchi next week to ask," Ron told.

"This was too dire to wait another week," Yori said, "I will try to explain, but not here, this requires more privacy."

As the three got out of the park, neither noticed the man with dark glasses a few hundred feet away holding up what looked like a gun with a dish on the barrel.

* * *

Kim, Ron and Yori went to Kim's house to discuss further.

"Tell me, do you know anything about the Egypt god Anubis?" Yori asked.

"Isn't he the Jackal god?" Ron said.

"One time we fought someone who was under a spell of the Jackal king," Kim explained, "Anubis is also the god of the dead, right?"

"Yes," the ninja told, "there used to be a sect of priests devoted to Anubis who held the key to the realm of death."

"Wait," Ron interrupted, "why do you know so much of it? This isn't really Yamanouchi's style, is it?"

"It is not," Yori admitted, "However, the Yamanouchi school is one of the last remaining protectors of the great powers… most protectors have been eliminated or passed away."

"What happened to the powers?" Kim asked.

"They remained hidden," the ninja told, "some were protected by other protectors… and some were eventually found."

"And I hold one of those powers now?" Kim asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yes," Yori told, "the most powerful and gruesome power has been bestowed on you."

"So far, it worked out fine," Ron objected, "if not for that power, KP would have been splattered."

"Thanks for the image," Kim deadpanned before turning to Yori, "What makes this power so terrible?"

Yori took a deep breath before answering, "Possible-san, you are immortal."

"Well, that's… kinda cool, right?" Ron said, "I mean, what villain could hurt you anymore?"

But Kim had already fallen silent as the implication began to set in, and as Yori explained the redhead started to see the consequences, "Possible-san cannot die, nor be hurt by any mortal or mystical weapon, even time will not affect her anymore."

"Staying young forever," Ron awkwardly tried to change the mood, "That's gotta rock… a bit?"

"No…" Kim shook her head while a few tears streaked down her cheeks, "You will still age… mom and dad too, the tweebs… everyone I know and care for…"

Ron began too see it too now, "B-but sometimes, letting go…"

"I know," Kim softly said, swallowing away a sob, "and maybe I can take it for some time… but for all eternity..." she looked at Yori again, "That's the curse, right? Everything will fall away from me… until I stop caring… and then…" she took a shivering breath, not wanting to end that sentence.

Yori nodded silently, "I am sorry."

"Isn't there anything we can do?" Kim asked in a weak voice, "I will gladly give this up, just tell me how."

"Again, I am sorry," Yori said, "I do not have an answer, perhaps Sensei does."

Ron nodded while holding Kim in a tight hug, "We'll visit Yamanouchi as soon as we can."

"Thank you," Yori smiled before leaving through the window, moments later there was no sign that the ninja had even been there.

"KP," Ron softly said as he stroked Kim's hair, "We'll get through this."

"I know," Kim took a shivering breath and looked into her boyfriend's eyes, "We always do. It's just… I never realized what it actually meant, living forever. I'm not even sure if I do now."

Ron smiled, "We'll get through this, no matter what. And even if we can't fix it, we'll still have a long time together."

Kim gave a weak smile, "Yeah… but I prefer fixing it, I don't want to lose you."

* * *

Later that evening, Ron walked home with mixed feelings; on the one hand, he saw how devastated Kim was by the idea of not just outliving him, but outliving him by a wide margin. But on the other - very selfish – hand, Ron was actually relieved; Kim wouldn't be in danger anymore, the sometimes nauseating feeling in his stomach when Kim tried a dangerous move to catch a villain or to safe someone would be gone.

Although he felt guilty for it, Ron smiled a bit as the burden of fear was lifted. Sure, he still had his own fears, but those he could deal with; the fears he had for Kim's wellbeing were something he couldn't even talk about most of the time, not even with Kim.

* * *

The next day, Kim's mother finally allowed her back to school. And when Ron pushed her onto the school grounds they were immediately surrounded by their friends.

"Kim, how are you?" Monique asked on behalf of everyone.

Kim smiled, "I'm pretty good actually, the doctor said I'd be up and running in a few weeks… mom wants to make it longer though."

"We heard about the guy getting arrested," Felix said, "I hope he gets what he deserves."

Kim's composure seemed to falter a bit after what Felix said, but she quickly recovered, "Well in fact I've been asked to testify, but I'm more concerned about just healing up though."

"Nice safe," Ron commended when he rode the wheelchair to Kim's locker.

"Thanks," Kim smiled, "At least this cast keeps reminding me to pretend to be hurt… wait, don't you have English class in a minute?"

"Yeah," Ron admitted, "But I have to help you…"

"I can take care of myself," Kim smirked, "I'm no excuse for you to get late to class."

"Aw man," Ron muttered as he hurried to his class.

Kim chuckled and began to wheel to her own mathematics class, moments later she heard an electronic motor behind her, "Hey Felix."

"Going old fashioned, I see," the blond haired boy smiled as he matched speed with Kim.

Kim had to suppress a terrible feeling of guilt when she saw Felix' concern; she suddenly felt like a huge pretender playing a cruel joke.

Somehow managing a smile, the redhead nodded, "Yeah, my arms work fine and the electronic ones are quite expensive."

"Gotcha," Felix grinned as he patted the armrest of his own chair, "If all the gadgets in this thing weren't so heavy I'd like to push it myself, I'm sure the ladies would like the buff arms," he jokingly flexed his biceps.

Kim giggled at the display, "I'm sure they would. Now come on, I don't want to get too late for class."

* * *

The rest of the day went by with little difficulty, although Kim still felt a bit put off by the concern she got from most of her fellow students; she couldn't shake the feeling that she didn't deserve it.

"Why do I feel so guilty about this?" Kim asked Ron on the way home from school, "It's not like I could have done anything about it, right?"

Ron smiled, "You just don't like to get pity you didn't deserve, same as when you get praise you didn't deserve."

"And what do you mean by that?" Kim frowned.

Ron chuckled, "Remember the cookie sale 'fraud'?"

"Oh, that," Kim looked down embarrassed, "But that was ages ago."

When Kim and Ron were still in elementary school, there had been a cookie sale to sponsor a school happening and there had been three prizes for the three best cookie sellers.

Although Kim had enthusiastically partaken, her shyness had prevented her from being amongst the top three cookie sellers. However, another girl had been a lot more competitive about the whole cookie sale and she couldn't deal with ending up relatively low on the list, so the girl had switched some numbers on the ordering forms to make it seem that she had sold all those cookies.

Unfortunately for her, the girl had made a mistake in writing down the number, thus handing all the sales to Kim.

Suffice to say that Kim had been astonished by the fact that she had gotten first place. But when she had found out why, the redhead had literally gone out of her way to turn things right again. On the plus side, that had broken her out of a lot of her shyness but the taste of winning had also lingered, giving rise to Kim's competitive nature.

"Well, you just can't take injustice, whichever way," Ron smirked, "and I love you for it."

"Thanks," Kim smiled.

"If it weren't for that, you think we would have even met?" Ron pondered, referring to the first time they had met in pre-school when Ron had been attacked by some bullies after standing up to them on Kim's behalf.

"I don't know," Kim admitted with a smile, "I'm just glad that we met back then."

* * *

Later that evening, at the dinner table, Kim frowned, "Weird, I didn't have much for breakfast this morning and I only ate a salad for lunch, but I'm not feeling really hungry."

This, of course, immediately alarmed her mother, "Are you not feeling well?"

"I feel fine," Kim told, "Just like every moment since I somehow got that power; no pain, no discomfort… and apparently no hunger either."

"Did you have this before?" Mrs. Dr. Possible asked, "In any of the past few days?"

"Not that I know," Kim admitted, "It's just… I don't have that feeling just before a meal, you know what I mean."

"Sure do," Jim and Tim grinned, eying their food longingly.

"You're completely not hungry?" Kim's father asked, "Or are just not feeling it?"

"It's the last one," Kim said, "It's like I'm just up for a snack."

Eventually, Kim easily kept up with her brothers, but to her surprise she didn't feel much different than before the meal.

"Do you think this also has something to do with your power," Jim asked.

"I guess," Kim muttered, "but I don't like it one bit; everything normal is falling away from me."

* * *

Kim tossed and turned in her sleep, unable to escape from the dream she was having.

_Brown eyes gazed into green, tear filled eyes, "KP… it's time to let go."_

"_No!" Kim held on closer to her man, "They're all gone, please don't let me lose you as well."_

"_I'm sorry," the 96-year old man smiled weakly, "It's my time."_

"_No, no… please no," the redhead, similar of age but not looking a day older than eighteen, cried. But she saw it was too late, Ron had left the world of the living._

The nightmare continued.

_Feeling lonelier than ever, Kim walked past the gravestones on the cemetery. Everyone she had loved, everyone she had cared for lay here; her parents, her brothers, four of their children. A little while further was the Jewish cemetery where Ron's parents lay, and now Ron too._

_A few other persons walked by and Kim heard them comment that these days so few young people visited here._

"_If only you knew," Kim muttered bitterly, low enough the others could not hear, "If only you knew."_

With a gasp, Kim woke up, tears still stinging in her eyes. The first thing she did was check the calendar. Sighing in relief when she saw the date she eyed the phone, ready to call Ron.

"_No, it can wait… until tomorrow."_

Kim sighed and walked back to her bed, not feeling ready to go to sleep again. Instead, she switched on the small desk light and grabbed a couple of books to fill the rest of the night.

* * *

**A/N: **I hope you enjoyed this chapter, more to follow soon. I appreciate reviews.


	4. Exposed

Thanks everyone for reviewing, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Disclaimer: **Kim Possible and related are the property of Disney which, contrary to common belief, I do not own.

**

* * *

Chapter 3: Exposed**

"Ron, we need to talk," Kim said the next day while the teens waited for the school bus; the distance to Middleton High was a bit too far to go with a wheelchair and Kim's mother had needed the minivan earlier that morning.

"About what?" Ron asked, "You mean what happened to you?"

"Yeah," Kim smiled sadly, "Last night I had this dream…" she was interrupted by the school bus arriving.

Seeing as the bus wasn't the best place to discuss this rather private concern, Kim decided to postpone the talk until after school.

However, during lunch break, Wade called, "Hey guys, did you still want to go to Yamanouchi?"

"Yeah, but I thought we'd planned that for later in the week," Kim said.

"Well, today I've got a plane heading there," Wade explained, "and it's wheelchair accessible."

Kim pondered for a moment; maybe it was best just to get this over with, at least it might take her mind off her dream, "_The dream, I still have to talk with Ron._"

"Okay Wade," Kim nodded, "We'll go today."

* * *

"So how are we going to get to Yamanouchi?" Kim asked when the teens sat in the plane that took them to Japan.

"The plane is going to fly over the school," Wade told, "So you can parachute down."

"So… why did we bring the wheelchair?" Ron asked.

"Uh…well…" Wade chuckled a bit embarrassed, "I guess I forgot about that… I'll have a new one delivered at your home Kim."

"Please and thank you," Kim grinned, but her smile faltered when she thought of the parachuting, "Maybe it's a better idea to just land and walk up there?"

"What!" Ron cried out, "Do you know how long that will take?"

"Well, if there is no-one else around there, I can walk," Kim told.

"What's wrong with parachuting?" Ron asked, "It's not like it's really dangerous."

"_Not to me…_" Kim thought sadly, "_Why can't I just tell him?_"

"Ron…" she started, "About that talk…"

"Would you like some refreshments?" The co-pilot interrupted as she walked back to check upon the teens.

"Uh no, thanks," Kim smiled.

"I do," Ron said, gladly accepting a few snacks and something to drink, "What were you saying KP?"

"Well, I had this dream last night," Kim said, "and in it you were really old… and dying. And everyone around me was dead…" tears began to well up in her eyes, "And I don't want to lose you."

Ron put a comforting arm around Kim, "That won't happen."

"How can you know," Kim snivelled, "what if something happens to you? What if you get hurt?"

Ron gasped as he suddenly understood that the roles had been switched; instead of his fear for Kim's well-being, Kim now was having major fears for his health.

But Kim wasn't finished yet, "I've always known we did some pretty dangerous stuff, but I-I figured we'd still be together whatever happened… but now I'll be left behind no matter what happens, and I know it's selfish, but I can't live with that."

"That's not true, and you know it," Kim looked up, shocked at Ron's harsh words, causing him to reel in a bit, "You always took on the dangerous part; fighting with Shego, doing the dangerous climbs and jumps… how do you think I felt when you did that?"

Kim looked down, "I-I didn't know, most of the time you looked too scared to take it up and I figured; well… at least you wouldn't get hurt…"

"I was too scared to do most of that stuff," Ron sighed, "and I still am… but when I see you do those things, it scares me even more… I don't want to lose you anymore than you want to lose me."

"You've had that all that time, and you didn't say anything," Kim gasped, "But how… when?"

"Remember your first mission," Ron asked, "when you were jumping through the laser grid and almost stumbled and fell into the laser?"

"Yeah," Kim nodded.

"Until then I never thought something could ever really hurt you," Ron said, "I mean, you even fell off your bike gracefully the few times you did."

"But still, you could have called it off," Kim objected, "or tell me you thought it was too dangerous, I would have understood… eventually."

"Maybe," Ron admitted, "but you seemed so… alive during the missions that followed, like you finally got a real challenge on your hands."

"I guess you got a point," Kim chuckled embarrassed, "I mean, I like the missions, but if it bothers you too much because I might be endangering myself, you should say so, so we can work around it."

"I'll try," Ron said, "but for now it doesn't really matter."

"I'm not intending on staying indestructible… or immortal for that matter," Kim told, "The sooner we figure this out, the better."

* * *

The parachute jump down to the Yamanouchi ninja school went perfectly, although Kim found herself much more nervous in anticipation of Ron's safe landing than usual.

"Stoppable-san, Possible-san," Sensei greeted the teens, "It is good that you could arrive so soon, even though the reason is not a good one."

"I know," Kim muttered, "we were hoping you would have an idea on how to remove this curse."

"I am sorry Possible-san," Sensei told, "it is not in my power to apply or remove a curse of this magnitude, that power is only available to the masters who guard it."

"Which is those Egyptian priests, right?" Ron asked, earning him a nod from Sensei, "And do you know how to find them?"

"The priests of Anubis have disappeared a long time ago," Sensei said, "however, there are several scrolls held in the Yamanouchi School that may give insight in what happened to the control of the power."

"Can we see those scrolls?" Kim asked.

"Not directly," Sensei explained sadly, "only a guardian of power and the holder of the power may look upon the scrolls that are key to their power."

"But KP hold the power," Ron objected, "So she can look upon it, right?"

"Only if she is truly immortal," Sensei said hesitantly.

Kim frowned, "So what am I supposed to do? Some radical dangerous action?"

"No," Sensei held up a small vial containing a transparent red liquid, "You have to drink this poison."

"But why?" Ron asked, partly refusing to let Kim try out anything that dangerous, even though technically she should be able to survive it.

"There is a catch," Kim said, it was not a question.

"Yes," Sensei nodded sadly, "Once you drink this poison and show yourself to be immortal, you will begin to know the implications to their fullest."

"Like my dream?" Kim asked and she shortly told about the dream she had the night before.

"Yes," Sensei nodded, "As I feared, due to the car accident you are already obtaining more understanding of the implications of your curse."

"Why was that part of the deal anyway," Ron angrily interrupted, "what is it with magic and all these catches?"

"No power can be gained without a price to be paid," Sensei explained, "the greater the power, the steeper the price."

"This means the dreams will come back worse, huh?" Kim gulped, but she still accepted the vial, "Well, guess I'll just have to hold out until we fix this."

The redhead took a deep breath, closed her eyes and drank the contents of the vial.

"KP, no!" Ron cried, but Kim had already emptied the vial.

"Guess that wasn't too bad," Kim sighed as she looked at the empty vial, "Now let's get going, I want to get rid of this as soon as I can."

* * *

Ron paced around, anxiously waiting for Kim and Sensei to come back out of the small shrine where the special scrolls were held; he had not been allowed to enter despite his protests that he had some standing as he had been exposed to the Mystical Monkey Powers.

"I am sorry Stoppable-san," Sensei had told, "It is too dangerous to let anyone but the guardian and the holder of the power read from the scroll."

Finally, Kim and Sensei exited; Kim still having a somewhat sad expression.

"KP, did you find anything?"

"Maybe," Kim told, "but first we have to find the lost temple of Anubis' doorstep."

"What's in there?" Ron asked, but Kim explained that she was not allowed to tell much more on it. Sensei emphasized on this, telling again that it would be highly dangerous to learn of the secrets about the great powers.

Fortunately, Sensei was so kind to lend the Yamanouchi helicopter to bring the teens to the nearest airport where Wade had a plane ready to bring them back home, the technical genius also promised to begin searching for the temple immediately.

On the plane ride back to Middleton, Ron was about to nod off when he noticed Kim was reading in one of the books from the small stack she had brought with her, "You're not going to sleep a little?"

"No," Kim sighed, "I'm afraid the nightmares will come back… besides, I don't actually need sleep, just like I don't technically need anything to stay alive. I just have to have something to keep me awake."

Ron sat back up, "Do you really think you can hold on that long?"

Kim looked down, "I don't really see another way, and I know I don't want to have those nightmares again."

"Come here," Ron gently pulled Kim in a hug, "I know those dreams must be terrible, but maybe it's better to face them rather than avoid them at all costs, and I'll be there when the nightmares end."

"I guess you're right," Kim pulled closer to Ron, "just promise to stay here, okay?"

"Always," Ron smiled as Kim put her head in the nook of his shoulder.

* * *

The teens were about to doze off when the Kimunicator chimed.

"What's the sitch Wade?" Kim asked.

"It's Drakken and Shego," Wade told, "Drakken has built some kind of ray that will make mosquitoes grow and he's about to use it."

"This again?" Kim groaned, "I thought he'd given up on that plan when heating the oceans with his laser failed utterly."

"I guess he's trying a more direct approach this time," Ron chuckled; knowing full well that growing the mosquitoes had only been phase one of Drakken's complicated scheme, the teens had never found out what the other phases were.

"It's on your route," Wade explained, "I understand you still have to play injured so I've also notified GJ but I'm not sure how much time we have left before Drakken starts up his ray."

"We'll do it," Kim told, "I could use some action."

* * *

It didn't take long for the teens to arrive at Drakken's lair.

"Could you scout ahead a bit?" Kim asked as she struggled to get the leg cast off, "I'll be there in a few. And don't confront them, okay?"

"What do you think?" Ron smirked, "I've only gone up alone against Shego a couple of times, and it wasn't pretty."

"Just be careful," Kim told, increasing her effort of sliding the uncooperative cast off.

Of course, Ron and being careful don't always go together that well, but this time he just had plain bad luck; As he walked around the corner, he bumped into Shego. The green skinned woman recovered first and grabbed him, "Where's Possible?"

But before Ron could answer, Shego got another idea and dragged the boy to the main room of the lair, "Dr. D, I captured the buffoon, Kim Possible is probably also nearby."

"Good," Drakken grinned in his best evil way, "Tie the buffoon up, this time I will take out Kim Possible myself."

As Shego tied Ron up to some equipment, she sighed when she saw Drakken take position next to the door with a large baseball bat held above his head, "That's not going to work, remember last time you tried that?"

"I stood there for an hour," Drakken growled, "my arms hurt for three days after, but this time Kim Possible will arrive shortly… right?"

Shego looked at Ron, who nodded, "Yeah, she's here too, but I don't think…"

The villainess shut Ron up again, "That's enough, I don't want you distracting Dr. D or warning Kimmie. Drakken deserves to win at least once."

"I heard that," Drakken growled, but at that moment the door opened and Kim walked in, "Ron?"

With precision and strength unprecedented for Drakken, the blue villain slammed the baseball bat down on Kim's head. Unfortunately for Drakken Kim did not budge and the bat bounced back and hit him in the face.

Kim looked confused at Drakken for a moment before she understood what had happened, "Oops, sorry Drakken."

As Drakken laid on the ground, holding his hands over his face and whimpering in pain, Shego stared at Kim in disbelief, "What just happened?"

"I'd say Drakken hits like a girl," Ron joked, earning him a glare from both Kim and Shego, "I mean weaker than a girl," he quickly tried to recover, "weaker than you two."

Shego turned her attention back to Kim, "That's not what happened, you should have at least felt him hit you. You got a new upgrade?"

Deciding that denying wouldn't help against Shego, Kim nodded, "Yeah, so you better give up because there is no way you can beat me."

Shego flared up her hands, "We'll see about that."

In the meantime, Ron had been struggling to get free. But when he finally got himself out he heard the whining of machinery and when he looked back he noticed that his struggling had unhooked a couple of power cables.

"No! The cooling fans!" Drakken cried and ran over to Ron, on his face was still the red mark of where the baseball bat had hit him, "You're ruining everything."

Before Drakken was able to reattach all the cables, a stray plasma bolt melted the cables to a pile of rubble, "Shego!"

"Sorry Dr. D," Shego muttered, not feeling sorry at all; she had been trying to hit Kim for a while now, but the redhead kept dodging every plasma ball, "Stand still."

"Forget it," Kim smirked, "What's the challenge in that?"

Suddenly, Drakken's machine began to whine loudly before exploding and collapsing half the lair.

"Ron, get out of here," Kim told as she tried to push a heavy metal beam off her leg.

Shego approached the younger girl with a smirk on her face, "So you can take quite a hit without having much trouble? Well, at least you're sitting still now."

"Cut it out Shego," Kim snapped as she fended off Shego's plasma with one hand, "You can't hurt me anyway."

"Really?" Shego grinned, "What about that?" the villainess pointed at Kim's arm.

Kim looked and gulped when she saw that her glove and part of her sleeve were burned off, "You wouldn't…" the redhead doubled her efforts in freeing herself from the large metal bar.

"Oh, I would," Shego smirked as she increased the fire on her hands.

* * *

Ron was sure he saw the remains of the lair shake with the power Shego was putting out, and occasionally green flames burst out of parts of the lair.

He was about to ignore Kim's warning and head in anyway when Shego came out, panting heavily from the extreme workout but with a huge grin on her face.

"Princess is in there, she really needs you," the villainess smirked before heading over to the spot where Drakken was waiting in the hovercraft.

"What did you do Shego?" Drakken demanded, "This was a time-share lair, I surely lost my entire deposit now."

"Can it Dr. D," Shego said, "move us up a bit, I want to watch."

"KP?" Ron called as he entered the still slightly burning lair, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," came a weak voice from a partly collapsed hallway.

"What happened?" Ron asked as he ran over to where he heard Kim.

"Stop! Wait," Kim yelled.

"What's wrong?" Ron asked again, "Please, just tell me."

Kim's head appeared, looking from over some rubble; her hair was dishelved and full with ash and dust, but further she looked fine.

"Shego did find something to stop me," Kim sounded miserable.

"Did she hurt you?" Ron began walking towards Kim again.

"No, Stop!" Kim yelled frantically, causing Ron to stop again, "But she found out my clothes weren't so… indestructible."

Ron gasped, suddenly understanding why Kim was still hiding behind the rubble, "Did she…"

"No, she didn't see me," Kim told, "I managed to free myself and hide in the hallway, but she burned everything down around me until my clothes caught fire as well."

Ron looked back at the entrance of the lair where Shego no doubt was waiting; probably with a camera ready, the villainess wouldn't let this chance to humiliate Kim go.

Kim's eyes widened as Ron began taking off his sweater, "Ron! So not the way to deal with this."

"Don't worry," Ron grinned, revealing he had a shirt on beneath his sweater, "And I've brought an extra pair of pants in my backpack, just in case."

He tossed the items of clothing over to Kim, who quickly put them on, "Thanks Ron."

The sweater was way too large on Kim, fitting her almost like a skirt, and she had to put the belt buckle on its tightest to prevent the pants from falling off, but at least she could walk out of the lair without facing utter humiliation by Shego.

* * *

Going commando in boy's clothes wasn't the greatest, but it was better than nothing. Fortunately, a Global Justice jet arrived before Shego could try anything else and she and Drakken made a quick getaway.

If the Global Justice agents were surprised to see Kim back in full health or by what she was wearing, they didn't show it when they brought the teens back to Middleton.

Once Kim was back into some more comfortable clothing, the Possible and Stoppable families got together to decide on how to go on from here.

"Drakken and Shego know about me being indestructible," Kim told, "They'll sure spread the word, and it won't take long for the news to reach Perkins."

"Especially with the coming villains convention," Ron added, "Monkey Fist will probably receive word of it as well."

"I'm not that concerned about Monkey Fist," Kim said, "I can't tell too much of what I've read on that scroll at Yamanouchi, but I think it's safe to say he can't get the power from me."

"Well, that's something," Ron smiled.

"So what do we do about Hank Perkins," Ron's father asked, "The moment he finds out you didn't actually sustain any damage from the car accident, he'll try to get as much out of it as possible."

"I have an idea," Kim smirked, "but I think we have to discuss it with our family lawyer as well."

Kim shortly explained her plan, earning her nods from the rest of the families, "It could work, but you have to play it right or the surprise won't work." Mr. Dr. Possible said.

"And you have to start wearing the leg cast again," Kim's mother told.

"Fine," Kim sighed, "oh, Jim and Tim, remember that offer you had for me? I'd like to take it up."

"Hoosha!" The twins cheered simultaneously.

* * *

Drakken stood at one of the tables at the villains' convention, eating from a small pile of snacks he had gathered. He wasn't in a particularly good mood, seeing as his plans had been foiled and he had nothing to brag about. Shego, on the other hand, was having a great time; telling everyone about her latest encounter with Kim Possible and how she had humiliated the girl. Of course, funny as the anecdote was, without any video material most villains quickly lost attention.

The blue villain shook his head, wondering whether Shego was getting too much carried away with her victory.

"Is it true?" a voice next to him suddenly called, Drakken looked up to see Monkey Fist standing next to him, "Did she really blast off all of Possible's clothes while leaving her unharmed?"

"She seemed unharmed when she got out of the remains of the lair," Drakken pondered, just realising how unlikely that actually was, "And when I clubbed her on the head it didn't do much to her either."

"Interesting…" the simian villain smiled vaguely before leaving again.

Before Drakken had time to think about it though, someone else caught is attention by tapping him on the shoulder, "Hank Perkins?"

"Hello Dr. Drakken," the sleek counsellor smiled, "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation, did you say that Kim Possible was fully healthy?"

"It seemed like it," Drakken told, "She dodged Shego's attacks easily, why do you ask?"

"Just curious," Hank said before heading over to Shego to hear the green skinned woman out about her latest encounter with Kim Possible.

"What is it with everyone and walking away after just one question?" Drakken muttered, "Is it too much to ask to stay for a short conversation?"

"I'll talk to you," A familiar and highly annoying voice said. Turning around, Drakken faced Frugal Lucre, "I've got plenty of questions."

Suddenly Drakken wished he had stayed home to fix up the lair.

* * *

"We got this," Hank Perkins ensured Rick Lumen as they prepared the last bit before the court, "I've done some digging on Miss Possible's condition and I'm sure we can take full advantage of it."

"Okay," Rick nodded, "As long as you can keep me out of jail, I'm good."

They entered the courtroom and waited for the others to enter.

Hank grinned when he saw the Possible and Stoppable families enter; only Kim and Ron were still missing, no doubt having difficulties with the wheelchair.

The attorney chuckled, if only they knew how he would use that against them.

But when Kim and Ron came walking in holding hands and Kim showed no sign at all of having been injured, Hank's smile faltered.

"_What are they up to?"_ he pondered, but then he shrugged; most of his plan still stood, although it may have gotten a little more difficult to convince the judge, but he was sure he could still pull it off.

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry for the longer wait, I hope you liked the chapter. I appreciate reviews.


	5. Explanations

Thanks everyone for reviewing, sorry for the long wait, real life demanded a bit more attention than I expected, and it took me quite a while to get the story to agree with me. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Disclaimer: **Kim Possible and related are the property of Disney which, contrary to common belief, I do not own.

**

* * *

Chapter 4: Explanations**

As court began it was announced that the claim against the driver, Mr. Lumen, was filed by the board of Middleton High for endangering its students by driving recklessly in the school's slow zone.

Many persons in the public were quite confused because they had though Kim Possible would have filed a claim for obtained damage. Of course, there had already been some surprised looks when Kim walked in seemingly unharmed.

Even Kim had been slightly confused about that, seeing as she had expected the Middleton police to have filed the claim. But her family lawyer, who at the moment sat in the public area since it was not yet sure whether Kim would even need him, had explained that the change in that regard could make the claim stronger by putting the focus on the danger the students had been exposed to.

* * *

It was difficult, if not impossible – even for a slick lawyer such as Hank Perkins – to refute any of the speeding claims; amongst others brake tracks had been examined and had showed that Mr. Lumen had indeed been speeding.

The endangerment to students however, was something Hank Perkins was aiming on to work against, not in the least because that part could very likely end up his client in jail for a long time.

"Your Honor, ladies an gentleman of the jury," Hank began with his usual smile, "My client is fully aware of the fact that he had been speeding and is not willing to do away that claim. We feel, however, that the speculation of reckless driving and willingly endangering the students of Middleton High School is unjustified."

"With us today is the proclaimed victim of the car accident," Perkin's smile got a bit slyer when he gestured at Kim, "Miss Kimberly Ann Possible. If it were true that she has been rushed to the hospital with severe injuries, would she be here today looking completely unharmed? I beg the question."

In fact, the attorney had been hoping that Kim would have appeared in court still seemingly wounded, that would have given him the chance to expose her as a fraud who would willingly lie in court. Unfortunately Kim, or the Possible family lawyer, must have caught scent of Hank's snooping around and had taken measures. But he was confident this would still confuse the jury enough to make their attention turn towards Kim being unharmed.

"Maybe Miss Possible herself can shed some light on the situation?" Perkins continued, "Perhaps she can explain why an alleged possibly lethal hit would have left so little, if any, damage?"

Kim gulped; even though she had expected this and had been preparing, it was still hard to face a crowd while answering the most likely hostile questions Perkins had ready for her, she had suffered similarly hostile questioning before at several less prepared press conferences and she didn't like it at all.

The judge looked at Kim, "Are you willing to make a statement about what has happened to you during the car accident and why you seem unharmed?"

Kim took a deep breath; she had discussed this with their family lawyer and he had explained that she had the right to refuse this request. Although if she chose to do so, most likely a new investigation had to be performed, giving Hank Perkins and his client a much better position. On the other hand, if she did want to make the statement, she would be considered a witness, giving Perkins to opportunity to figuratively grill her.

"Yes your Honor, I am willing to explain what happened from my point of view and what is the reason for me being unharmed."

* * *

Seeing as she was now a witness, Kim had to declare the oath that she would tell the truth, only the truth and nothing but the truth; fortunately they had already worked this out before since she wasn't inclined on lying in court anyway.

As Kim explained how she had pushed Lisa away from the car, Perkins immediately wanted to know why she had done such a thing.

"She would have been crushed otherwise," Kim told, "she was standing frozen in place by sheer shock."

"I see," the attorney nodded, "and you were not scared about the risk for your own well-being?"

It was clear where Hank was leading, but Kim did not give him the opportunity, "I couldn't not help. Besides, I was pretty sure I could jump out of the way in time, but the car was speeding even more than I thought."

"And yet here you are, unharmed," Perkins observed, "would you care to explain that?"

Kim nodded, "Yes, although I have to say right now that due to security reasons I can only give a very basic version."

"Objection," Hank Perkins snapped, "how can we use this with a lack of details?"

"Overruled," the judge said, "I'm sure Miss Possible will do her best to explain without sacrificing imperative security data."

"Thank you," Kim smiled, "I am currently unharmed because I have been exposed to something that renders me invulnerable to physical harm for an undefined period of time. I cannot indulge further on this other than the fact that this 'enhancement' will not last indefinitely."

"I was not aware of this 'enhancement' before I was hit by the car," Kim continued, "In fact, it was the car accident that made me aware of it."

Hank had suspected something along those lines, but what he had not expected was Kim's openness about it. Quickly recomposing himself, he asked his next question, "And why did you choose to keep this piece of important evidence for this trial to yourself?"

Kim grinned, "I have never officially been summoned as a witness for this court; I had no reason to tell. I did, however, make a promise to keep what happened to me a secret for various reasons."

"I see," Hank Perkins was desperately searching for something else to say or ask that could turn the case back into his favour. But the redhead had used the one combination that he dreaded and hated most; openness and honesty, how could an attorney work with that?

"I have no further questions," he sighed; with his ace card played and lost, Perkins could only hope for a miracle to turn the case around. Even though losing didn't do much to him personally, his professionalism would take a painful hit, making him less attractive to various people who needed help in court that other attorneys weren't too eager to offer.

* * *

The 'miracle' did come however, although in a fashion that Hank couldn't have dreamed up.

Suddenly, part of the roof broke open and a swarm of monkeys dressed in ninja garb jumped in between the audience. Moments later, their master arrived, looking for a certain redhead.

He found her easily, as she was already getting up to defend herself, "Kim Possible, you have something that I want."

Kim quickly took in the numbers; she was clearly outnumbered, even when Ron took his share of monkeys to fight. But on the other hand, as long as the monkey ninjas didn't pile up on her she was practically unbeatable, especially with the enhanced outfit that Jim and Tim had just finished that morning.

But Monkey Fist wasn't inclined on taking on Kim; he knew what he was up against and one didn't bet with odds that bad.

Of course, he didn't have to fight when he could just order Kim off by threatening the persons that were present in court.

As the monkey ninjas quickly spread through the now panicking crowd, Monkey Fist made his demands, "Surrender, or I'll order my monkey ninjas to hurt the people here."

Seething, Kim dropped her stance, "You leave those people alone, how dare you do this?"

Monkey Fist smirked, "If you hadn't taken what was mine, you wouldn't have had any trouble. But I will get this power, no matter what it takes."

"You can't get it," Kim retorted, "even if I would allow it, it's not possible to make it switch carriers."

She then sighed, "If I surrender, will you let these people go?"

Monkey Fist nodded and signed his monkey ninjas to tie Kim up.

"KP!" Ron yelled as he tried to get past several monkeys to help his girlfriend, "Don't let him do this, you can't give him the power."

"And he can't get it," Kim told, "Neither can he harm me, and this way no one gets hurt."

Monkey Fist smiled vaguely, as if he knew something the teens didn't, "Do the smart thing, like your friend; give me what I want and I won't bother you anymore… I'll even let you live out your lives once I have the power."

Chuckling to himself, Monkey Fist left through the roof again, his monkey ninjas following him while carrying Kim with them.

* * *

Ron had his fists clenched for a few moments after the self-proclaimed monkey master had disappeared, then he took a deep breath and relaxed a bit.

He was still angry with the way things had gone, but he had seen Kim's short wink; by acting like this, they had convinced Monkey Fist that he held all the cards, what he didn't know was that Kim's new outfit also had a tracking beacon that Kim could switch on and that switched on when her life signs faded. Although the latter would most likely not happen, Wade would be able to locate Kim without effort and then they could properly fight the monkey villain.

"KP, just hang in there," Ron mumbled before he contacted Wade; he had the feeling Monkey Fist still had some tricks up his sleeve that could hurt Kim despite her invulnerability.

* * *

Kim struggled against her bonds, but even though she was able to put much more strength into it than usual, seeing as the ropes couldn't hurt her, she still lacked the strength to break free.

"I told you before, you can't drain the power from me, no matter what you try," she told, "I've read about how it works."

"Interesting," Monkey Fist grinned, "so have I, maybe we can compare data."

"Forget it," Kim snapped, "you won't get away with this anyway."

"Oh, but I know things even that Sensei you asked for help doesn't know about," Monkey Fist chuckled as he saw Kim's surprised look, "Did you really think I thought you wouldn't go there? But I know about the only weakness that remains with you and gets worse as time continues… and I plan on speeding the process up quite a bit."

* * *

"Well," Hank Perkins said as he got up from his hiding position, "Isn't that convenient for Miss Possible? Getting herself kidnapped during this court."

"Dude," Ron growled as he grabbed the attorney by his collar, "For your information, she saved your butt by allowing herself to be captured, and that of everyone else here too."

"Mr. Stoppable, would you please let go of the defendant's lawyer," the judge who - a tribute to an unshakable character - had remained in his seat while most of the court had emptied when the panicking audience wanted to get out, "Or I'll have you removed from court until further notice."

Still glaring, Ron let go of Perkins and took his seat again; it would still be a few moments before Wade had assembled proper transportation so he had to wait anyway.

The judge turned to Hank Perkins, "Seeing as you had no other questions, don't you think you would have the most benefit from Miss Possible's abduction?"

"I… uh…" Hank began to sweat a bit, "Maybe it's best if we postpone court until Miss Possible returns safely?"

Ron shook his head, but waited for the judge's nod of approval before speaking again, "KP wouldn't want that, she has said what she wanted to say… and you better not try to accuse her of anything else again."

"Ron!" Jim and Tim called as they entered the courtroom again – it was still chaotic enough for the guards not to be able to stop them – "Wade got our transport ready."

"Good," Ron stood up and followed Kim's brothers; they had insisted on coming along and helping out and with the current sitch Ron could use all the help he could get.

* * *

"So, what's your big plan?" Kim asked after Monkey Fist and his monkey ninjas had arrived at his current lair; an old, abandoned castle that had clearly been meant as a tourist attraction a long time ago.

"You may think your Sensei had all the information on the power you posses," Monkey Fist said, "But I have a part too, including the location of the temple of Anubis' doorstep… but I need the information you gathered to redirect the power."

"You can't, I already told you," Kim told, "and I won't give you the information anyway. Even if it were possible, I will not help you gain immortality," she gulped and took a deep breath, "even if you threaten my friends and family."

"Then I just have to break you first," Monkey Fist smirked, "you've already experienced the effect of close encounters with death, haven't you?"

Kim frowned, "What does that have to do with it?"

"After a while, you can't fence off the nightmares anymore, even if you refuse to sleep," the monkey villain explained, "That is the true curse of the power, your mind breaks down bit by bit as your immortality is tested."

"And you're not scared of that?" Kim inquired, feeling a lot less good than moments before, _"Please Ron, hurry up."_

"I don't plan on testing the power once I have it," Monkey Fist said, "besides, someone with my training can hold on forever."

Kim huffed, "Yeah right, you're already a nutcase as it is."

Fighting the urge to smack the redhead – it wouldn't have any effect anyway, except him possibly hurting his hand – Monkey Fist signalled his monkey ninjas to carry Kim to a central hall of the castle.

"When this castle was built, the constructors made a mistake when they dug the moat," Monkey Fist told, "they hit an underground reservoir and destroyed part of the foundation. Even after they drained the water away, a deep well was left which is still mostly filled with water… a couple of days of drowning will make you a lot more susceptible to my offer."

"Ron will have found me way before then," Kim snapped, but still she felt scared as the monkeys tied her feet to a large piece of concrete.

"You mean by using the tracking device you have on you?" Monkey Fist grinned, "I doubt the signal will work under water. And I've already copied the signal's output, so I can lead the buffoon on a goose chase while you have some time to spend with the fishes. Or you can tell me what you know now."

"I take calling you a nutcase back," Kim muttered, "you're completely insane."

Monkey Fist's grin fell, "Fine, suit yourself." With a hard shove, he threw the large piece of concrete into the well and Kim was dragged in behind it.

* * *

"Where are they Wade?" Ron asked as he and Kim's brothers flew in a Global Justice hoverjet, trailing Monkey Fist.

"They made a short stop at some castle," Wade told, "and the signal got a bit weaker for a moment… maybe it's the castle walls, but now they're on the run again."

"Do you think he needed to pick something up there?" Jim asked.

"I don't know," Ron said, "but it gave us time to catch up," he looked at the screen that indicated their position relative to Kim's, "We're still about a hundred miles behind, can this thing go any faster?"

The GJ pilot who flew the jet nodded, "Yeah, but we need clearance for that; we're in a heavy air traffic zone."

"Okay," Ron conceded, "we can still track them anyway, I just want to catch up before Monkey Fist can do something to KP."

* * *

Being dragged under water while tied up was one of the most terrifying things Kim had ever endured. As she sank deeper, she desperately tried to free herself, but the bonds held firmly.

The pressure on her ears increased, and even though Kim knew that under other circumstances her eardrums would have popped or ripped by now, the pressure was still very annoying.

Worse though was the need her body had for filling her lungs with oxygen; holding her breath became more of a struggle with each passing moment until Kim finally couldn't hold it anymore and breathed in a lungful of water.

It took several minutes of coughing and inhaling more water before she was able to overcome her body's response to having liquid in her lungs.

"_I'm drowning" _Kim realized, "_I'm technically passing away each moment._" She didn't know how Monkey Fist's idea exactly worked, but there was a good chance that her nightmares would increase more than tenfold after this, even worse if Ron didn't show up soon.

* * *

"We're on to them," the pilot told; in front of them the four could see Monkey Fist's plane, "Wherever they land now, we can catch them."

"Good," Ron said, glad that since Kim was immune to harm, Monkey Fist would not be able to use her as leverage to get away like he did with the public in the court.

But then, suddenly something was dropped from the plane; a wrapped package with weights attached to it. Ron felt his heart skip several beats, "KP…"

Jim and Tim were keeping an eye on the monitor that showed Kim's position, "It's Kim; they dropped her from the plane."

"We're above water," the Global Justice pilot said, "It should break her fall."

"We need to dive after her," Ron ordered, "Can this thing to that?"

"No," the pilot admitted, "But we do have a motorized personal diving unit aboard."

Moments later, the GJ jet hovered above the water and Ron got ready to jump out, carrying the diving unit.

"This is the last point we got information from the tracking device," Jim said.

"Kim should be down here if she sank in a straight line," Tim added.

"_I just hope KP doesn't have to stay underwater too long,"_ Ron thought, "_Or the nightmares will get way worse._"

* * *

"We shook them off," Monkey Fist smiled, "They think we dropped her, turn back to the castle and we'll see if Miss Possible has reconsidered our offer."

* * *

While Ron tried to find Kim, Jim and Tim were still mulling over Monkey Fist's actions, "Why would he drop Kim and leave?" Jim pondered.

"Unless he got what he wanted and decided to put up a distraction so he could get away," Tim offered.

"But there is something off about his actions," Jim insisted, he contacted Wade, "Can you play back the route of the tracking signal?"

"Sure," Wade told and typed in a few commands, moments later the monitor in the jet showed a map with the signal from the tracking beacon, together with Kim's vital signals, and started playing the route from the court room on.

Soon they got to the part where Monkey Fist had made a short stop, "There," Tim pointed, "it looks like there are two signals for a moment."

"You're right," Wade said, noticing this for the first time, "How could that be?"

"And Kim's vitals don't change anymore from there on," Jim mentioned, "It's the same loop over and over again."

"Call Ron," Wade said, "Monkey Fist must have hidden Kim away somewhere in that castle, probably under water… she must be in there for several hours already."

* * *

Shortly after arriving back at the abandoned castle, Monkey Fist realized that getting Kim out of the well might be more of a problem than he initially thought; the well was deep and he had no diving equipment. Also, the fact that Kim was chained to a block of concrete wouldn't make things much easier.

Grumbling to himself for forgetting such a thing, Monkey Fist ordered a couple of his monkeys to steal some diving equipment and an underwater cutting torch from the nearby town, but for some reason all the monkey ninjas were cowering in the far corner of the castle's main hall.

"Do I have to do everything myself here?" the simian villain growled and turned to the exit to get the diving gear himself, only to face a seething Ron standing in the door opening.

"What did you do to KP?" the boy demanded, purposefully striding up to the self-proclaimed monkey master.

Monkey Fist backed up a bit, "Monkey ninjas, attack!" but when nothing happened, he looked around to see all his monkeys having abandoned him, choosing the relative safety of the high walls.

Deciding to forfeit this battle in favour of the war, Monkey Fist conceded, "If you let me go, I'll tell you where she is."

* * *

Kim hung listlessly in the pitch black dark water, her buoyancy still making her float a bit despite all the air in her lungs being replaced with water. She could not keep track of time in the darkness deep inside the well and already bizarre visions were floating in front of her eyes.

Although she had managed to wrestle herself free of the bonds that held her hands, her feet were chained to the large concrete block and without her gadgets she didn't stand a good chance of breaking free.

Earlier, the redhead had let out several screams of frustration and was surprised at the ease of making sound underwater, especially since it didn't sound all bubble-filled this time. But most she could do now was wait for someone to rescue her, or for the shackles that held her to rust away.

Then, suddenly, a bright light illuminated the water and chased away the darkness and a silhouette started moving down, carrying a light with him as well.

"Ron!" Kim called when she started to notice his features. The moment Ron heard her, he let go of the diving unit and left it to float in place and quickly swam the last part over to Kim.

They shared a hug and Ron mentioned something in his breathing mask that Kim interpreted as "Are you okay?"

"Now I am," she smiled; the horror visions chased away in an instant.

Ron had brought an underwater cutting torch with him and it took mere moments to free Kim before they headed back to the surface.

When they emerged, Kim immediately tried to squish most of the water out of her lungs. But once she inhaled again, the repressed reflex to get the water out of her got fully active again and the redhead fell into a terrible coughing fit.

"Are you okay?" Ron asked concerned.

"Yeah *cough*," Kim managed to smile between coughs, "I just gotta *cough* get rid *cough* of this water," she didn't speak for a moment as she spit out another wave of water, "It's getting better."

In fact, it took her another fifteen minutes of coughing and spitting out water before she actually did feel better, but then that happened so suddenly that it surprised everyone around.

"I don't think I ever get used to this," Kim told, inhaling deeply to confirm all the water was out of her lungs; the usual pain of oxygen deprivation completely absent.

* * *

When they got into the Global Justice jet, Kim noticed Monkey Fist sitting in the holding cell, looking quite beaten up, "What happened to him."

"He only wanted to tell where you were if we let him go," Ron told, an angry flash in his eyes, "I won't let him hurt you like this anymore."

Kim's eyes widened, "Did you torture him?"

"He broke before Ron could even get a real good punch in," Jim snickered, much to the monkey villain's dismay.

Kim frowned, "Normally I wouldn't approve of this," then she looked sharply at Monkey Fist, "But what you did is monstrous… you would really do anything to gain immortality, wouldn't you?"

Monkey Fist only growled in answer.

"We'll make sure you won't have to bother with him anymore," the Global Justice pilot promised before he returned the teens back home.

* * *

It was late in the evening when they returned in Middleton.

"Good night Ron," Kim said as she gave her boyfriend a gentle kiss, "Sleep well."

"You too… are you going to sleep?" Ron asked.

Kim sighed, "Yeah… I need to know how bad it's gotten, maybe I can somehow prepare a bit for it."

However, that night Kim had her worst nightmare yet.

* * *

The redhead sat on a small island, softly sobbing to herself. Her tears had been long gone, just as most of her sanity; it was the shocking of her shoulders that showed her emotion.

Her clothes hung in shreds around her – still in perfect condition – body and her hair was a mess.

A long time ago - she had lost track of time ages before – she had banished herself to this island to get away from humanity. But now her best friend, she had been talking to it for years, had passed away; the rock that had been roughly shaped like a human being had finally eroded so far that it had collapsed.

With a shivering hand, she held up a sharp piece of rock, but even though she wasn't able to speak coherently anymore, she knew the one and only truth of her condition; there was no way out.

In the same silence as in her dream, Kim woke up. For a moment she was afraid she had really lost the ability to speak, but then her voice obeyed her commands again, "Ron!"

* * *

Ron was sleeping peacefully when a soft sound suddenly woke him up, sitting up he looked around and saw that Rufus had fallen out of his bed; a nest of cotton sitting on Ron's nightstand. Ron got up and picked up his buddy and placed the molerat back into his bed.

As he got back into bed, Kim wrapped her arms around him and pulled him down to her.

"Sorry 'bout that," Ron muttered sleepily as he snuggled into the hug, "Rufus gets a little twitchy every now and then at night after he has eaten too much cheese."

"That's okay," Kim smiled, "now go back to sleep."

"Hmmm," Ron had just closed his eyes when realisation struck, but instead of freaking out and jumping back out of bed, he only opened his eyes again, "KP?"

"Yeah?"

"When did you get in here?"

"Just yet, when you were putting Rufus back in his bed, didn't you hear me?"

"Ah, it was you… 'Night."

"Goodnight."

Ron had just closed his eyes when he opened them again, "KP?"

"What?"

"Why did you get in here?"

Instead of answering, Kim hugged him closer which told Ron enough, "The nightmares, huh… Well, I hope you sleep better here," Ron closed his eyes again, deciding to freak out about it later; he was too tired now.

* * *

**A/N:** I hope you liked this chapter, I'll try to do my best to post the next chapter a bit quicker, but I can't promise anything. I got a couple more stories to work on and RL might still try to snoop away time. Just hang in there ;)


	6. Apologies

Thanks everyone for reviewing, sorry for the long wait, it's not too easy to find the time to write at the moment.

**Disclaimer: **Kim Possible and related are the property of Disney which, contrary to common belief, I do not own.

**

* * *

Chapter 5: Apologies**

The next morning, Kim woke up before Ron. She sighed as she knew she'd better head back home before her parents would notice her missing; she was sure they would be okay with it once she explained, but that meant telling about the nightmares as well and Kim wasn't sure she was ready to talk about those horrors yet; even telling Ron was difficult.

Giving Ron a soft kiss on his forehead, the redhead got ready to climb out of the window when he suddenly grabbed her arm, "Are you leaving?" is was more a plea for her staying than a question.

"Yeah," Kim smiled sadly, "I-I really needed to be with you… but I'm not yet ready to explain it to my parents as well.

"Okay," Ron nodded, "but don't crop those feelings up, it might do more damage that way."

"I know, it's just…" Kim's expression told Ron all he needed to know.

"It's okay… guess I see you in a couple of hours?"

"I hope so," Kim smiled before climbing out the window, leaving Ron alone again in his room, not counting Rufus, but the molerat was still deep asleep.

Even though he didn't know exactly what Kim's nightmares had been about, Ron was sure by her expression that they had not been pretty, "I just hope KP will be able to keep it together," he muttered to no one in particular before he drifted off to sleep again.

* * *

When Kim arrived at her home, she noticed the lights in the kitchen were on, meaning that at least one of her parents was already up.

Walking around the house, Kim easily climbed up to her room and entered through the window that she had left open a bit when she went over to Ron's.

However, her hopes of sneaking in unnoticed were thwarted when she noticed a small note on her pillow.

_I assume you went to Ron? Please let us help you too. I hope we can talk about it during breakfast._

Kim sighed, so much for not having to explain. On the other hand though, maybe it was better if her parents knew about her nightmares too.

* * *

"Good morning Kimmie," Mrs. Dr. Possible smiled when her daughter entered the kitchen, "Did you sleep well?"

Kim was glad that her mother didn't try to pry the answers from her, but instead let her talk about it on her own initiative, "Yeah, eventually… after I got over to Ron's… when did you find out?"

"Mother's instinct," the older woman shrugged, "I heard the roof creak when you left your room. Want to tell me about it?"

Kim slumped down in one of the seats, "Okay… it's just… what would you do if dad, me and Jim and Tim died in an accident?"

"I don't know," Kim's mother told sincerely as she sat down next to her daughter, "It's something I prefer not to think about."

"Me neither," Kim said with a sad smile, "but that's one of the things that has been haunting me in my dreams lately."

"And going to Ron presses back those thoughts?" Mrs. Dr. Possible then asked.

"No," Kim shook her head, "but it makes me feel better, like we can find a way out of this… this curse I have."

The older Possible woman sighed and put her arm around her daughter, "I know we can't do much, but you know we're here for you."

"Yeah," Kim smiled weakly, "I know, and I'm glad for it… I just hope to get rid of this as soon as I can."

* * *

"Feeling any better?" Ron asked when the teens walked to school.

"A bit," Kim told, "I'm glad I eventually did tell my parents about the dreams though."

When they arrived on the school grounds, Kim and Ron met up with several of their friends; Monique and Felix had been talking amongst themselves when they noticed the two, "Hey Kim, glad you're back safely."

Kim withered at bit under Felix' smile, "Hey Monique, Felix… I'm sorry I had to lie to you last week, you were so nice and supporting while I…"

"Kim," Felix interrupted her, "it's okay, you had good reasons… it's not like you were poking fun at me, right?"

"No… but still, you were feeling so strong about it, and I…"

"Hey, I felt strong about that reckless driver hitting you," Felix told, "and I felt sorry for you that you had to stay in a wheelchair, because I know how annoying it can be. I was already glad that you would be out of it so soon, so don't you think it's even better now you don't have to stick to a wheelchair anymore?"

"Well… if you put it that way," Kim smiled, "Thanks."

Then she turned to Monique, "I think I owe you an apology too."

"Yeah you do," Monique said, "you've already donned the mission outfit and I haven't even head a word from you regarding showing it to the world."

"Oh, that," Kim was taken aback a bit, "well, I kinda did show it during court…"

"The Fashion world girl!" Monique almost shouted, "So, when are you going to be ready."

"Well… uhm," Kim felt she was led into a trap, but her friend was confusing her too much to get up with coherent words.

"Let's try the weekend after next week," Monique said smugly, only giving away a hint that she already had planned things just for that, "I'll have the outfits ready by then."

"Outfits, there are more?" Kim asked, "I thought there was just the mission clothes."

"Kim," Monique sighed, "sometimes I worry about you… we'll have a fitting session next week, 'kay?"

Kim looked helplessly at her boyfriend, who could only shrug, "She's got you when she's got you."

Felix tried his best to suppress a snicker, but failed, "You should have seen your face. I think Monique had been planning this ever since you appeared in court in the new outfit and without apparent injury."

Kim sighed and nodded, "Good thing Monique isn't a bad guy, she'd got me down in minutes with her weird logic."

"Speaking of which," Ron indicated at Bonnie who was standing further along in the hallway, impatiently tapping her foot.

"Well?" the brunette asked when Kim and Ron approached; Felix had turned around and caught up Monique who he had the next class with, "Aren't you going to apologise to me?"

"Why, exactly?" Kim asked confused, trying to remember whether she had insulted or otherwise downed her rival during the recent events.

"You kicked me out of the squad," Bonnie explained in an exasperated tone, "But you couldn't get hurt anyway when I accidentally let you fall."

"First of all, that wasn't an accident," Kim pointed out, "you were neglecting your duty. Second, I didn't even know I couldn't be hurt then and third, even if I knew you would still be at fault for doing such a thing."

Bonnie gasped, "And me driving your BF to the hospital doesn't count for anything either?"

Kim turned to Ron, "She did?"

"Yeah," Ron chuckled embarrassed, "I guess I forgot in the chaos that followed."

"I didn't know that Bonnie," Kim told the brunette, "but that still doesn't excuse you, if you really want to make things up you can start by helping out the freshmen team; they're short on capable trainers from the junior and senior team and I can't lead two teams at the same time."

"What?" Bonnie gasped in disbelief, "I'm not going to be some babysitter."

"They're going to be cheerleaders too, you know," Kim told, "Okay, if you're willing to help out, to really help out, the freshmen team, I'll let you back on the senior team and I will explain it to Mr. Barkin, that sound good for you?"

"Fine," Bonnie muttered, not revealing anything but her apparent annoyance with the situation as she walked off.

"Always grateful, isn't she?" Kim smirked sarcastically as she and Ron walked off to their class.

* * *

"You said it were only a few outfits," Kim complained, looking at the rack full of outfits for her to try on; there was her new and enhanced mission gear, three more casual variations of it, a couple of more revealing outfits that only slightly resembled her mission clothes and a few dresses that only had a similar coloring scheme.

"It isn't that many," Monique retorted, "Besides, you're only expected to wear three or four of them, there will be some other models as well."

"Ah… great," Kim wasn't sure if she should be happy about that, "But still, some of these outfits look at bit… skimpy," she held up a hanger containing a dress that didn't leave much to the imagination.

"My designs are _not_ skimpy," Monique firmly told, "they're fashion, they're to show off, to make a statement."

"I don't know…" Kim muttered.

"Nonsense," the dark haired girl said, "you'll look great in it. Believe me, they'll love it."

"Not making me feel better," Kim sighed, but took the dress anyway; there was no point arguing with Monique concerning fashion.

* * *

"You got to show off the dress," Monique empathized when Kim came out of the bathroom they currently used as a dressing room, the redhead looked really uncomfortable in the revealing dress.

"I don't think I want to show off like this," Kim objected, "why can't I just show the mission gear and the related outfits?"

The dark-skinned girl frowned, "Really? I think you can pull it off if you showed a little more confidence… okay, if you really don't want to do this, we can let one of the other models show this particular dress."

"Thanks," Kim smiled as she turned back to the bathroom to put on the next set.

"Wait," Monique called, "There is no-one here, you could show off just a bit now, right?"

"I guess," Kim sighed and returned to the makeshift catwalk; a couple of towels outlined the sides so Kim could walk it up and down.

"You're looking good girl," Monique praised as the music she had selected played and Kim put out a nice show of fashion, "Are you sure you don't want to try this next week?"

Even Kim had to admit that there was some thrill at showing off the dress, but she still wouldn't want to do that in front of a crowd, even if said crowd was only interested in the fashion anyway.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Kim smirked, "and no, you can't make me change my mind."

"Fine," the raven-haired girl muttered in mock disappointment, "We'll try the mission gear next."

Kim was happy to comply; the new and enhanced mission outfit fit even better than the one Monique had made the first time; it seemed to follow her moves and adjust accordingly.

This time the music was more upbeat and Kim performed a couple of fighting moves that made Monique almost squeal, "That's it Kim, that matches the gear perfectly. You have to do those moves at the show as well."

Kim tried on the other outfits as well, but when she got down to the last one, the doorbell rang.

"That's Stacey," Monique told, "a fashion student from Upperton U, she'll help with the project as a part of her own assignment. Just so you know she can be a bit…"

"Ah, I see you've been trying on the outfits?" A tall blonde said as she entered and spotted Kim, "Good, now we can quickly start and go over who should wear what and how we do the show."

"…Condescending," Monique finished in a whisper, "better not try to be insulted. Believe me, it won't work."

"How can someone walk in heels like that?" Kim asked, watching the woman walk into the living room; the blonde was in reality maybe only a little taller than Kim, but the stiletto heels added a significant height to the girl.

"Are you coming," Stacy asked over her shoulder, "we've got a lot to do today."

Monique grimaced, "I wish Upperton would have sent over someone a bit nicer, but if we want to use their equipment…"

"I'll manage," Kim smirked, "how bad can it be?"

* * *

Kim got her answer over the next hour, real bad. Stacy not only wanted most things done much differently than either Kim or Monique had planned, she also refused to listen to any of the girls' comments.

"Just like Bonnie, huh?" Monique smirked when Stacy was changing outfits. Fortunately, at least for Kim, the older girl had decided that the more revealing dresses would look better on her; Monique still thought Kim could pull it off much better.

"If she'd acknowledge me," Kim muttered, "I barely got a word in and even if I say something she completely ignores me."

"True that, girl," Monique grumbled, "if I didn't need some place to have the show I'd ditch her right now."

"What's that about anyway?" Kim asked, "I thought you had some deal with Club Banana?"

"I do," Monique told, "doesn't mean they just give me everything I want; they are willing to come over and watch and bring some associates, the rest is all up to me… us."

"You're the one doing the work," Kim noted, "I'm just walking around in the outfits. And Stacy, well…"

"What are you babbling about?" Stacy asked when she got out of the bathroom, "We have to get this over with quickly so we can do the practice run tonight."

"What?" Monique and Kim cried out at the same time.

Kim didn't even bother to call jinx, "What are you talking about?"

"Yeah, I don't know of any practice run," Monique added.

"Every show needs a practice run," Stacy rolled her eyes, "It will just be a couple of my college partners and the teacher watching… you do want to be prepared for the real thing, right?

"I guess," Kim muttered, looking at Monique who didn't seem too happy either.

"Great," Suddenly Stacy was all smiles, "you guys will love them."

* * *

"Wow, this actually wasn't too bad," Kim smiled after the brief fashion show they had given to the group of students from Upperton University; Monique had received many compliments on the designs she had made and Kim had been praised for the style she equipped while showing off the mission gear.

"Yeah, they loved it," Monique beamed, "Imagine how Club Banana will look upon the designs."

"Would you like to stay a while longer so we can celebrate this victory in the making?" one of the students, Stan, offered, "And don't worry, we do have non-alcoholic beverages," he grinned after a glare from Kim.

Kim smiled, her view of the students as brats starting to change more and more for the better, "I'd love to then, how about you Mon?"

"Okay," Monique said, "Say, why are there no professors with you, I thought this was some kind of project you did."

Stan's smile faltered a bit, "The prof got ill at the last moment, he told us to work it out anyway," he led the teens to a table filled with drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, and an assortment of snacks, "Help yourselves."

Soon the group was enjoying themselves, chatting around and generally doing their best to include Kim and Monique, the latter mainly had a great time as she had the same passion as the others.

Kim just smiled and tried to keep up with the conversations while she made up her mind a bit about the students.

In total there were four girls and two guys, Stacy and Stan she had already met. Then there was Don, a foreign student from Italia, his girlfriend Melissa, a somewhat short but rather thin brunette, and there were the twin sisters Mona and Elise who were almost indistinguishable; if Kim hadn't have had more than twelve year experience telling her brothers apart, she wouldn't have been able to notice the difference between the girls.

Stacy walked up to Kim and Monique carrying a plate with a variety of drinks, "Hey, I just wanted to say I'm sorry for this afternoon if I came at you a bit too strongly, it's just who I am, and a good way to maintain position here; sometimes you have to force your way to the top."

Monique grinned understandingly, "I know, if it weren't for Kim it would have taken me a long time to get my designs recognized."

Picking up one of the few diet cokes from between mainly glasses of wine and a few beers, Kim nodded at Stacy, "No problem, I'm glad you have the decency to apologise, I know a girl who would never do even that."

"Sorry about the prof though," Monique said as she took the last diet coke and took a good gulp from it; it was quite warm inside the room and all the talking had made her thirsty.

"Yeah," Stacy shrugged, "that trip got up at the last possible moment, but we can handle just fine."

Kim frowned after taking a sip from her drink, "I thought Stan said he was sick?"

Stacy's eyes widened for a moment, but she recovered quickly, "Stan must have misunderstood," she then walked off in the direction where Stan was standing where they exchanged some heated words which Kim could not really make out from her position.

Her main concern though was for Monique at that moment; the dark-haired girl was shaking her head dizzily as she took another gulp from her drink, "It is really hot in here."

The room was rather warm, but not that hot, so Kim sniffed her drink, "Did they spike your drink?"

"Nah," Monique shrugged, "my dad let's me drink some alcohol on occasion, and it sure doesn't taste like this."

Kim had to admit that the soda smelled and tasted just like it should, even though her experience with alcohol was limited to a small glass of wine at Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners she too was pretty sure the drink didn't contain any alcohol, which either meant that Monique was suffering from some unknown condition or that there was something else in their drinks.

"You guys look thirsty," one of the twins, Kim thought it was Mona, said as she offered them another soda, even though Kim still held hers, "Why don't you have another drink?"

Monique greedily accepted the drink and gulped it down in seconds, much to Kim's astonishment, "Monique?"

"It just feels so good," Monique grinned strangely, "can I have some more?"

"What's going on?" Kim demanded, "What did you put in our drinks?"

"Nothing," Elise said as she joined her sister while holding a large glass of water, "But you look parched, have some water."

Monique tried to get up from the couch, but immediately slumped down again, "Oops… my bad," the rest of her words were drowned out in a giggle fit."

Kim knew enough, "Something is wrong here," she grabbed for the Kimmunicator when she felt something push against her back.

Turning around, Kim looked at Stan who stared in disbelief at the broken needle of a syringe he was holding, the broken point still clung to Kim's shirt.

"You tried to drug us!" Kim immediately stepped protectively over Monique as she called Wade, "Wade, send an ambulance over to Upperton University, and also a narcotics team, they tried to…"

Kim was interrupted when Elise threw the glass of water in Kim's face. Sputtering, the redhead glared at the girl, but noticed the others were also looking intently at her, clearly expecting her to fall over at any moment.

"Kim, are you okay?" Wade asked, "I've sent the teams your way, they should be there within ten minutes."

"Thanks Wade," Kim flashed a brief smile before she returned her gaze to the group of students who were still looking at her, uncertainty getting the better of them.

"Did you use the wrong glass?" Don asked.

"No," Stacy said, "they both had a glass with forget-me-not, it immediately had effect on Monique."

"And this stuff should have knocked out an elephant," Elisa told, shaking her hand that had become a bit numb when she had splashed some of the contents of the glass over herself.

With Kim in a defensive position over Monique, the students were not really clear on what to do; the drugs should have taken their effect a long time ago now.

"Wade," Kim held the Kimmunicator close to her face, "Can you scan whatever it is that they doused me with?"

"No way," Stan shouted before Wade could do something and leaped at Kim, which was enough to get Don into action as well.

Both men were physically fit and well trained, as their muscles clearly showed. Two synchronized strikes were enough to decide the fight.

The three girls gasped when their friends slammed to the ground, clearly in pain. Kim barely seemed to have moved, but her face was a lot more serious now, "Don't try that again, I won't go soft next time."

The students that remained standing didn't dare to oppose Kim; not only had she just dealt with two guys a head taller than herself, despite the amount of drugs she had consumed from her soda she showed no effects at all.

"You still want that scan done?" Wade asked.

"Yeah," Kim said as she placed the Kimmunicator again so that Wade could scan the water and the remains of Monique's soda, "Or do you guys want to tell me what you tried to drug us with?" she glared at the group of students.

The girls looked at each other, still unsure of what to do, but then Wade already called in again, "I got the results."

Noticing Kim's questioning look, he quickly continued, "The stuff in the water is basically a powerful tranquilizer that can be taken almost any way to knock someone out."

"But it doesn't harm you in any other way," Mona meekly pointed out, earning her another glare from Kim.

"She's right though," Wade told, "the dose only determines the amount of time you're out, depending on your weight."

Kim shrugged, "What about the stuff Monique got?"

"It's forget-me-not," Wade explained, "Drakken used some of the same ingredients in his brainwashing shampoo, it's basically a mind control drug; the victim will do pretty much anything that's told… and they won't remember a thing afterwards."

Kim looked at Monique, "Monique… can you lift your right hand?"

"Sure," the dark-skinned girl grinned and did as asked, Kim noticed she held her hand like that even after the command.

"Okay, you can lower your hand, why don't you take a rest?"

Again, Monique did as told and moments later she was softly snoring.

"How long does this stuff take to wear out?" Kim asked Wade.

"About 24 hours," the tech genius told, "the police just arrived at the university by the way, I've told them you have the situation under control."

* * *

The arrival of the police proved pretty anticlimactic; the students immediately surrendered, knowing their game was up and only hoping to keep their sentence as low as possible. Monique was still sleeping and was taken to the hospital until the drugs cleared from her body.

The nurses also wanted to take Kim along since she too had come in contact with the drugs, but she told them off, "Wade already checked me and I'm clear of drugs, I think I got lucky and got a glass without the forget-me-not in it," she assumed it would take some time before they would figure out from the students' confessions and drug testing that both glasses contained the drugs, "I'll pass by when I check up on Monique in a couple of hours."

Shorty after, when Kim was still talking to officer Hobble, Ron arrived, alerted by Wade, "You okay KP?"

"Yeah," Kim smiled, but then turned serious, "Although they shouldn't have gotten that close to taking me down at all; Stan even managed to stab me with a syringe."

"But that wouldn't be a problem, right?" Ron frowned.

"That's the point," Kim told, "I'm getting lax, I don't have my guard up anymore as I used to… it used to be a second nature, but now it's eroding away."

"That is a strange way to look at it, but I get your point," Ron said, "What did they want anyway?"

"I don't know," Kim admitted, "I've been wondering that myself as well."

They got their answer when one of the police officers doing the investigation approached them, "Do you know if Miss Jenkins was planning on selling her designs?"

"No," Kim said, curiously, "Why?"

The officer showed them a contract he had found in a briefcase that one of the fashion students had brought with, "It seems someone wanted to have your friend sign over the right to her designs to them."

Kim gasped, "They wanted to steal Monique's designs? Those are her great works, and a good entrance to almost any high ranking fashion study, or fashion bureau after that."

"Not to mention the possibility for a study grand," the officer nodded in agreement, "I think we may have a motive."

* * *

On the way back home Kim was still clearly angry, "Who would go so low as to steal designs… and by drugging no less."

"KP, try to relax," Ron said, a bit frightened, "before you crash us into a tree or something."

"I'm sorry Ron," Kim loosened her death grip on the steering wheel a bit, "But this really gets me mad."

"I noticed," Ron tried a weak chuckle, "but hey, fortunately nothing worse happened, thanks to your… powers."

Kim sighed, "Yeah, sometimes they come in handy… still not worth the costs though. I'd rather rely on my own strengths, and I really need to keep those up."

"Anything I can do to help?" Ron offered.

"If you know something to keep me sharp, please and thank you," the redhead smiled.

* * *

"Hmm?" Monique slowly opened her eyes as she began to wake up, "Hey Kim, I think I dozed off a bit… mom, dad? What are you doing here?"

Slowly realisation started to dawn to her, "Why am I in a hospital?"

"You've been drugged," Kim explained and shortly told Monique what had happened.

The fashion maven took it quite well, "That snake! Next time I see her I…" she started to get up, but her father pushed her back down, "You still need your rest. Besides, there are better ways to solve this than violence."

"And they will get what they deserve," Kim told, "this time there won't be a Hank Perkins to try and squeeze them out of trouble."

The follow-up of the interrupted court regarding the car crash in which Kim had been involved had been brief and efficient, leaving Perkins with an unsatisfied client and Mr. Lumen under probation, something he actually was pretty lucky to get away with.

"Wait a minute, didn't you drink that soda as well? How come you weren't affected?" Monique frowned, "Does this have something to do with whatever kept you intact after the car crash?"

"Yeah," Kim nodded, "but I'd rather not expand too much on that…"

BEEB BEEB BEEEB BEEB

"Excuse me," Kim said after the Kimmunicator interrupted her, "What's the sitch Wade?"

Wade looked triumphantly at her, "I found the location of the temple of Anubis' doorstep."

* * *

**A/N: **Another chapter down, I hope to be able to write down the next one in not too long a time.


	7. The temple of Anubis doorstep

Thanks everyone for reviewing, sorry for the long wait, it's not too easy to find the time to write at the moment.

**Disclaimer: **Kim Possible and related are the property of Disney which, contrary to common belief, I do not own.

Special thanks goes to _Slipgate_ for beta-reading.

**

* * *

Chapter 6: The temple of Anubis' doorstep**

"I found the location of the temple of Anubis' doorstep," Wade said triumphantly, "We're in business now."

"That's great," Kim said with a relieved smile, "how soon until we can go there?"

"Right now if you want to." Wade already began typing away on his computer. "I can get transportation fixed in a few minutes."

"You rock Wade." Kim said gratefully. "I'll get Ron. I'd rather not waste any more time with this curse."

After saying goodbye to Monique and her parents, Kim quickly went over to Ron's house to pick her boyfriend up. About twenty minutes later they were in flight, on the way to Egypt.

Ron grinned. "You sure don't take this slowly."

"I want to get rid of this curse as soon as possible." Kim smirked, but there was a bitter undertone in her grin. "I haven't told you about last night's nightmare, right?"

"No," Ron said, "Was it bad, like the other ones? You could have come by if you wanted."

Kim sighed. "I know, but last night's dream made even that somewhat… problematic."

* * *

"_Empress." the servant called out, then bowed as he entered the throne room. "A group of rebels broke into the palace."_

"_Excellent." the Supreme Empress – for about 500 years now – smiled, albeit a bit sadly. "I think it's best if you leave. Make sure none of the other servants or guards are nearby when the rebels break into the throne room. And have a clean-up and reconstruction crew ready; things may be a bit messy afterwards."_

"_Of course." the servant bowed again and quickly departed._

_Kim nodded approvingly; this one seemed to understand loyalty at least. It was a nice change after a row of six who wanted to kill her, mainly by poisoning._

"_They just don't give up," Kim muttered to herself; the palace poisonings weren't that much of a problem, in fact it had taken four months before she had even realized they were trying to poison her, and even that was because some spilled soup burned a hole through the marble floor. _

_The rebel attacks were more of an issue since they had already destroyed fourteen palaces over her reign as Empress. Finally, annoyed by the high death count of her personnel and the trouble of have to have a new palace built after each attack, Kim had worked out a special fortified palace with easy entrances leading directly to the throne room. This way the property damage was limited to only one room and the death toll was only as high as the amount of rebels not willing to give up._

"_Maybe this is the one," Kim spoke to herself just before the first of the rebel soldiers stormed into the room. Of course this was just wishful thinking; she had even walked out of nuclear attacks unscathed._

"_Greetings," she said with mock formality, "What can I do for you?"_

"_You can die!" the rebel leader shouted, aiming his gun at her. "We will not be subject to your wicked reign anymore."_

_Kim cocked her head. "Wicked reign? I don't think most of my subjects have any problem with my leadership… you are of course free to get a majority vote and force me out of office. I may be an empress but I will quit if enough people don't want me anymore."_

"_You hold them under a spell similar to your eternal youth," another rebel said, "we will end this once and for all."_

_Kim sighed. "I doubt it. Many have tried before. Don't waste a life you could spend productively otherwise."_

_Of course this didn't help. As Kim had feared, these were a group of less sophisticated rebels and they just opened fire with whatever weapons they had._

_Kim patiently endured the barrage, hoping it wouldn't take too long as she did have other things to do. She felt her nanite powered liquid-metal dress fold out of phase. Kim didn't really understand how it worked, but she knew it allowed the dress to pass all the potential damage on to her, thus saving her some very embarrassing moments right after an attack._

_The assault didn't take long and the weapons quickly ran out of energy. Kim still stood facing the rebels. "Are you done?"_

_Staring wide-eyed at the empress, the rebels needed a moment to wrap their minds around the fact that she had sustained no damage whatsoever._

"_No way." the leader cried and stormed over to Kim, closely followed by his soldiers. "You will pay!"_

_The fight was short. Kim was still trying not to hurt them too much, but they just didn't want to give up. But when the leader shakily stood up from the third time he was kicked away, he felt he needed to change plans._

"_Last resort," he growled and pressed something on his wrist while he stumbled towards Kim for the last time. His followers did the same._

"_Oh no…" Kim had just time to think before the rebels simultaneously detonated the bombs that they had been carrying on them._

"_Are you all right, Empress?" the servant asked after he came in about twenty minutes later._

"_As always." Kim sighed, sitting in the middle of an utterly destroyed throne room. The walls had held up well as usual, but the furniture was obliterated. "It's just… I kinda get tired of this every time."_

"_The last time was over twenty years ago," the servant pointed out, "And the one before that nearly a hundred years ago."_

_Kim grimaced. "Live as long as me and that is not really a long time." She stood up and walked out of the throne room. "Send a cleaning and fixing crew in. I'll be in the basement lab."_

* * *

"That wasn't too bad," Ron said, "I mean, yeah, you lived a long time and people tried to kill you, but you were good… right?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Kim nodded. "As good as an empress for five hundred years could be. I'm sure I had done my share of bad stuff."

"But this dream was a lot more detailed," Ron mentioned, "and what did you mean that even I couldn't help you after that dream?"

"It was an awful lot more detailed than earlier dreams," Kim said, "It might as well have happened for real; it took me ten minutes this morning to separate reality from dream. As for your part… the dream wasn't really finished."

_

* * *

In the lab, Kim wasted little time to get to her goal: a large machine that occasionally spouted a whiff of cold steam._

"_Ready the cryotome for extraction," she told one of the persons working in the lab, "I need to see him."_

_The woman nodded. "Certainly, but you do realize that it will shave another week off his life?"_

"_I know." Kim sighed. "I really need him this time…" she then chuckled. " You'll just have to hurry up with the eternal youth serum."_

"_As always," the scientist said with a small smile before starting to work on the cryotome's computer. "Extraction started. He should be thawed in five minutes."_

"_Don't call it that," Kim reminded the woman in a slightly sulky tone, "I feel bad enough doing this to him already."_

"_All right…" the other woman said with a bemused grin. "He'll be awake in five minutes."_

"_Thank you." Kim smiled and turned to the cryotome's exit where her love would stumble out of any minute now._

"_Wha-what happened?" a thirty year old version of Ron stammered, shivering in the overalls he wore despite the relatively high temperature in the room._

"_Ron!" Kim cried happily before enveloping him in a hug. "You're back."_

_Ron had to think for a moment. "Back? I went to sleep and… you did it to me again." he pushed Kim back and looked at her. "You can't keep me like this forever."_

"_You don't get it," Kim said, soft sobs coming up, "You're the last thing I've got… and… and…"_

_Despite himself, Ron hugged Kim again. "I know KP, but you can't keep me frozen forever…"_

"_I don't," Kim interrupted, "…not all the time, this way you can be here fifty times longer, and I'm sure someday I can figure out…"_

_Ron put his finger on Kim's lips. "No, it is not possible, even for you. And besides, you said it yourself, it's a curse… do you really want to do that?"_

_Kim was now sobbing on Ron's shoulder; she knew how selfish she was for this, but she couldn't let go, she just couldn't._

* * *

"…And that's when I woke up," Kim finished, tears running down her cheeks. "I held you basically captive just because I couldn't let you go…"

"Shhh." Ron gently stopped Kim by putting his finger on her lips. "It's okay, it wasn't real, remember?"

"It could be real," Kim insisted.

"But it wasn't," Ron retorted, "and we're going to break the curse, you know we can."

"Yeah." Kim smiled weakly. "What would I do without you?"

"Live on," Ron suggested, only half jesting. "Promise me you will never do anything foolish if I'm gone."

"Ron." Kim glared at her boyfriend with a crushed look. "Don't say things like that."

Ron pulled Kim in a gentle hug. "I'm sorry. You're right, we shouldn't be thinking about that. We're together; let's enjoy that instead."

With a smile, Kim snuggled closer to Ron.

* * *

"We're above Egypt," the pilot announced after what seemed like only a short while. "Be ready to jump in ten minutes."

"Five hundred years in the future, and still no potion of eternal youth?" Ron grinned as he and Kim prepared their parachutes.

"Hey, it was my dream." Kim mock-pouted. "You can't expect me to invent such things overnight."

"Too bad though." Ron pondered for a moment. "You could have used your future dreams to make new inventions."

Kim chuckled. "Let's not go there, okay? Way too paradoxical to me."

A short while later, the teens jumped out of the plane that was flying over what appeared to be an empty spot of desert.

"Are you sure it's here Wade?" Kim asked during the descent.

"I'm more worried about transportation back," Ron muttered.

"Yes, and taken care of." Wade smirked. "I'll lead you to the entrance after you've landed."

"Okay, we're down," Kim said a short while later, "Now where is this temple?"

Wade asked her to point the Kimmunicator so that he could give them the best reference point and then told them to go north from their current position.

* * *

"Boy is it hot here," Ron complained after walking only a couple of minutes as Wade gave them directions.

"Uhuh…" Kim said absentmindedly while looking at the Kimmunicator screen, "…I see hills here everywhere Wade, which one is it?"

"I think I'm getting a heat stroke," Ron tried again, only to get handed Kim's water bottle.

"You can have it," Kim said, "I don't really need it."

"Thanks, but I didn't mean that," Ron muttered, but he accepted the bottle nonetheless. "I thought for a moment I saw a giant banana hiding behind that hill."

Kim stared at him for a moment, but then she shrugged. "Must have been a mirage."

"Okay, now you're directly above the temple," Wade said from the Kimmunicator screen. "It's covered in sand, but this is the best spot to go down."

Kim smirked. "Well, it seems we have a little digging to do."

"Aw man," Ron complained, but dutifully took the folding shovel from his backpack and began to help his girlfriend dig away the sand.

"How much deeper do we have to go?" Ron whined after a while. "We've been at this for hours in the burning sun."

"Ron, it's only been fifteen minutes," Kim pointed out. "And we're in the shadow of the hill… partly."

"Well, I just want to find that stupid…" A loud 'THUNK' sounded when Ron pushed his shovel back in the sand again. "And now I hit another rock."

Kim shovelled some more sand away. "No, you hit the roof of the temple."

"Oh… eh, guess we got lucky then." Ron chuckled sheepishly. "So, how high is this temple anyway?"

"According to the schematics, about sixty feet high," Kim said. "But according to Wade there is a roof door somewhere nearby," she quickly added after seeing Ron's shocked expression.

The teens dug a little more before they cleared enough of the roof for Wade to locate the roof door. After that, another half hour of shovelling was enough to find and clear the stone trapdoor.

"Okay, now what?" Ron asked, looking at the plate of stone that must have weighed over five hundred pounds and had no exterior grips.

"Wade?" Kim asked.

"Don't worry." the tech genius smiled smugly. "There is a system that can open the door for you… Walk over to the red tile about ten yards in front of the door and stamp on it three times, then march over to the door, it should start to open once you are halfway. Don't stop or it will fall closed again."

Ron frowned. "Some kind of ritual?"

"Kind of." Wade shrugged. "The high priests used to stamp on the tile with their staff and demand entrance to the temple."

Fortunately, the part in front of the door had already been cleaned. Kim and Ron walked over to the red tile that stood out from the rest of the mainly sand-colored tiles and Kim stamped on it three times. Then they walked back to the door in the marching pace that Wade had suggested.

"You have to get in immediately," Wade warned, "or the door might fall closed on your head."

Taking Wade's warning to heart, Kim and Ron continued to walk to the trapdoor as it slowly opened, its ancient mechanism apparently still in good working order. When they reached the door, the teens walked on and went down the stairs that led into the temple. Above them, they saw the door slowly close again.

* * *

Moments later, they stood at the bottom of the stairs, surrounded by pitch-black darkness that was only illuminated by the light from the Kimmunicator screen.

"We could use a light in here," Kim suggested.

"Sorry, the temple is buried too deep for the mirror system to work," Wade explained. "Besides, most of the mirrors that still remain in the temple will probably be way too dusty. You'll have to do with the Kimmunicator lights."

Not that the light of the little communication device was weak to begin with – Ron and Rufus even fooled a robot once that it was the light of an oncoming train – but it still only provided a small circle of light around Kim and Ron, leaving most of the temple in eerie, shadowy darkness.

"Creepy here," Ron commented, staring at the mean-looking statues and portraits on the walls. "Would it have killed them to make this a bit more inviting?"

"They were the priests of death," Kim said, "what did you expect?"

"Good point," Ron conceded, "but still, this place creeps me out. It's a good thing Rufus didn't come with."

Seeing as part of the mission was going to be in the burning Egypt sun, they had decided to leave Rufus home; he burned easily so most Mediterranean missions were a no-go for the mole rat unless he had loads and loads of sun block.

* * *

Finally, after walking through a maze of rooms and hallways, Kim and Ron arrived at the central room where a dozen large jackal statues stood watching them from the walls.

"I take back my earlier comment," Ron whimpered, "_This_ is really creepy."

"They're just statues," Kim said as she walked to the middle of the room where a gold-plated altar stood. "So, what do we need to do now Wade?"

"You're the one who got instructions," Wade pointed out, "I don't have a clue of what do to from here."

"Okay…" Kim frowned in thought. "But from what I read in the scrolls Sensei showed me there should be a door leading the way between realms."

Ron looked around. "I don't see any door other than the one we used to get in through."

"That's not the one," Kim said, "It should be a portal placed before a black wall. Only if the portal is activated and the connection between this world and the realm of death is opened can one can pass through."

"Maybe this is the wrong room," Wade suggested. "This was supposed to be the central altar room, maybe the room you are looking for is even more hidden."

"That could be," Kim pondered. "But where should we look then?"

"I'll check the blueprints of the temple again," Wade promised. "Maybe I can see if there is some empty space anywhere."

"Or, you know, see if there is a hidden entrance somewhere in this room." Ron began to – cautiously – walk past each of the jackal statues and pressed on points he thought could be hidden panels or secret doors.

Kim shook her head. "Ron, I don't think Wade means actual blueprints like we have today, right Wade?"

"Pretty much," Wade admitted. "This is all based on some ancient drawings the Natural History museum has in its collection."

Ron was unfazed by the news. "Guess I have to find the hidden entrance on my own then."

"Nothing here." he finally said after passing each statue. But when he turned around, he heard the sound of cloth ripping. "Aw, man." One of the stone knives the statue held had caught on to his pants and ripped a fair part out of it.

Kim chuckled as Ron looked annoyed at his pants. "At least they didn't drop." Fortunately, only the part below his knee was ripped, so he was still presentable.

"Stupid statues," Ron muttered as he joined Kim and headed out of the room, where they waited for new data from Wade.

* * *

It didn't take Wade long to find several spots in the three-dimensional representation of the temple where there could be an extra room.

"Okay, there should be a hidden door or switch here somewhere," the tech genius told the teens after he led them to a different part of the temple. "Put the Kimmunicator against the wall so I can use ultrasound to determine if there is a hollow space behind it."

Kim did as asked and Wade confirmed that there was a room on the other side. But no matter how they searched, they couldn't find something that resembled a door or entrance.

"This is getting us nowhere." Ron sighed as he leaned against the opposing wall. "Can't we just break the wall open?"

"That could destroy whatever is inside," Kim pointed out, still moving her hands over the wall to find seams. "Could you help me look for seams in the wall?"

"Fine," Ron muttered and got up again, clinging on to a carved indentation in the wall he had been leaning against.

The indentation folded back and revealed several handles hidden behind it.

"Ancient control board?" Ron asked. "Coolio!"

He pulled several levers, causing several disturbing sounds deeper in the temple, before Kim could stop him. "You don't know what those do, for all we know one of them is an ancient self-destruct system."

"Won't that be a large red lever then?" Ron asked jokingly. "Besides, I did open this room."

"What?" Kim turned around, and noticed the entire wall had moved away. "I didn't even hear it move."

"Maybe the sounds in the rest of the temple drowned it out," Wade suggested. "This one seems to be working quite smoothly despite not being used for so long."

"Too bad it isn't the right room though," Kim said. She noticed that the now-open room showed scores of large vessels that used to contain oil or food. "Guess we hit a secret storage room."

* * *

Fortunately, Ron's lever switching had opened most of the secret rooms, so the teens didn't have much trouble looking at what was inside. However, the room they were looking for was not present.

"Wade, we checked all the possible rooms you mentioned," Kim said, "but we still didn't find the one we're looking for. Are you sure there is no other place left?"

Wade frowned in thought. "Not that I know of. There is only a tiny spot in the exact centre of the temple that is not accounted for, but it is way too small for the type of room you mentioned. And at that location there were no doors opening."

"We'll check it out anyway." Kim sighed; this was starting to get annoying.

* * *

"This is the room?" Ron asked after they had arrived at the spot Wade had indicated. It wasn't much to look at; it looked like the outside of a relatively small square room. Although the strange thing was that this was the only room the teens could walk around, as it did not connect to any of the other walls.

"Is it even a room?" Kim wondered; for all intents and purposes, it could also have been a large block of stone.

"I don't know," Wade admitted. "I can't scan inside the room, and the echo-taps didn't give me much either."

"There's got to be a way in." Ron began to move his hands over the smooth walls, hoping to find a seam. Kim helped and, remembering Ron's previous luck, also searched the opposing walls for secret controls.

"Hey, look at this." Ron looked where Kim was pointing at and saw some drawings of a sun and a moon on the wall opposite the secret room.

"What do you think it is?"

Kim frowned. "I don't know. I do know that the moon represents night, and death. Just as the sun stands for day and life."

"Okay, but does that help us in any way?" Ron took a closer look, trying to decipher the other hieroglyphs on the wall.

"Maybe Wade knows." Kim called Wade again and showed him the drawings. "Can you make something out of this?"

"Give me a minute." After scanning the text, Wade began to furiously type away on his computer. A few moments later he looked back at the screen. "Okay, it seems that in the time between the sun and the moon, or day and night, the portal between life and death is open."

"So that would be twilight." Kim looked at the time. "When will that be today?"

"In about three hours," Wade said.

"Do you really think it will be that easy?" Kim asked. "We just have to wait until sunset and the portal will open?"

"I'll see if I can find some more on this," Wade promised before closing the connection.

Ron smirked. "Looks like we have some time to kill."

Kim, however, was in deep thought. "If I remember correctly, the priest of death could only walk through the gates of death when he carried the knife of the netherworld, but there was something that had to do with the last ray of sunlight hitting the blade before it could enter the darkness."

"But the blade is gone, right?" Ron looked confused at his girlfriend. "Or is it inside you?"

"Something like that." Kim wasn't sure herself. "Anyway, we probably need sunlight to get in here, or we will not be able to open the door to this room."

Ron thought for a moment. "Maybe we can get part of the mirror system working again. Wade mentioned something like that I think."

Kim shrugged. "I guess we can try that. We don't have much to do anyway for the next few hours. But we need to find a way to get the roof door open again or we'll never get sunlight into the temple."

"Leave that to me." Ron already ran off towards the panel with levers they had discovered earlier.

Kim called after him. "Ron! You can't expect those levers to open everything in…" The rumbling of the roof door opening interrupted her sentence. "…Never mind."

* * *

Kim was busy dusting off the umpteenth mirror when the Kimmunicator chimed. "What's up Wade?"

Wade looked quite frantic. "I just found out that the last light of the setting sun must hit the knife of the high priest before he can enter the sanctuary. And therefore we need the mirror system to be in working order."

Kim grinned as she held up the ancient mirror. "Already on it. And we figured that since the knife's powers have been bestowed onto me it will work when I receive the last ray of sunlight."

Wade deflated a bit. "You could have told me that sooner, you know. It's only half an hour before sunset."

"We're almost finished," Kim said, "besides, we could have waited until tomorrow, right?"

"I guess," Wade muttered.

All set." Ron stepped into the hallway. "We only need your mirror and we have sunlight all the way from outside to here."

Kim smiled and placed the cleaned mirror in its spot on the wall, she noticed with satisfaction that a small beam of sunlight was now shining on the wall of the secret room.

As time passed, the beam of sunlight became more and more red and, Kim suddenly noticed, larger.

"Hey Ron, look at this." Kim pointed at the beam of sunlight. "How can it get larger?"

"Uh… it doesn't." Ron looked confused at his girlfriend. "In fact, it even got a bit smaller now the sun is almost down completely."

Kim frowned and looked at the disk of red light again. "It's really bigger. Here, look."

As she touched the wall to show the outline of the circle, the light suddenly disappeared and was replaced by a black portal. It was so dark that it seemed to pull the light inside.

Just at that moment, Wade called back in. "Right now the sun has set over the temple area… whoa."

The dark portal was growing in size even more until it reached a diameter of about seven feet, covering the wall from top to bottom and touching both corners.

"Is this… the portal to death?" Ron shakily asked.

"No." Kim reached out and touched the blackness with her fingertips. "This leads to the room where the portal sits."

At her touch, the portal began to suck in more light until the teens were cast in complete darkness except for the Kimmunicator screen.

"I'm losing the connection," Wade said as static moved over the small screen. "I can't…. do…. –ver… -ist…"

The connection was gone before Kim could ask what Wade's last message was, and then the screen of the Kimmunicator went dark as well.

* * *

Sitting in complete darkness, the teens suddenly realised that they could see the portal… and the room beyond.

A dim light with no apparent source illuminated a room that was much larger than appeared from the outside and where a row of twelve jackal statues stood. They almost looked like an honour guard leading a path to what stood at the end of the room – a metal framework with a central circle that was surrounded by strange markings.

"Those again?" Kim snorted as she stepped through the portal. "Do they keep these statues everywhere?"

"K-KP…" Ron whispered in a frantic voice as he pointed a shivering finger at the second-closest statue.

Kim looked and gasped at what she saw – a ripped piece of clothing that clung to the statue's sword. She knew very well to whose pants it used to belong.

The teens didn't have much time to dwell on that, though, when a new voice spoke up. "You walked willingly into this room. Now it is time for me to take what is mine."

Kim and Ron spun around to face the person who had stepped through the portal as well. "Monkey Fist."

* * *

**A/N:** This is a bit of a cliffhanger, I know. I hope you enjoyed and I'll try to update soon.


	8. Anubis

Thanks everyone for reviewing, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Disclaimer: **Kim Possible and related are the property of Disney which, contrary to common belief, I do not own.

Special thanks goes to _Slipgate_ for beta-reading.

**

* * *

Chapter 7: Anubis**

"How did you get in here?" Kim asked.

The self-proclaimed monkey master grinned. "I followed you. You were bound to go to this temple sometime. And you provided me access by opening the portal to this room."

"So I didn't hallucinate the banana," Ron said, "but wait, weren't you supposed to be in prison?"

"I broke out," Monkey Fist deadpanned, "and I believe now is the time to claim my reward."

"So not going to happen." Kim shot back and got into a defensive stance. "You know you can't beat us."

"Guys?" Ron's voice suddenly sounded a lot more terrified, but Kim and Monkey Fist ignored him.

"As long as I capture you, I can gain your power," Monkey Fist said. "Monkey Ninjas, prepare to attack!" There was the sound of the monkey ninjas approaching but they hadn't shown up yet.

"G-guys…" Ron sounded more insistent this time.

"Head in the game, Ron." Kim said.

"B-but look." Ron pointed further into the room.

Finally, Kim and Monkey Fist turned around… and were startled to see what Ron was talking about.

Every jackal statue was looking at them.

"That's odd," Kim managed to say.

"Monkey Ninjas, attack!" Monkey Fist shouted, "Don't let some statues scare you."

Just over a dozen monkeys ran into the room, but then each of the statues got up from their positions and unsheathed their weapons.

The monkey ninjas fled the room as quickly as they had come in. And not a moment too soon, because a fraction of a second after the last monkey had jumped through the portal, it disappeared. Kim, Ron and Monkey Fist were trapped in the room, facing a dozen stone jackal warriors.

"This is a setback," Kim muttered, getting ready to fight the statues nevertheless.

Before anyone could attack though, a disembodied voice spoke, "Who is entering my temple? And who demands access to my realm?"

Several things happened at once: the jackal statues formed a double row and saluted with their weapons, the circle inside the metal framework on the opposite side of the room began to glow with a rainbow of colors that began shifting to deep red, and the entire room began to light up in a strange off-white light.

The three humans looked at the now fully red glowing circle, and it was Monkey Fist who spoke first. "My name is Montgomery Fiske, Lord Montgomery Fiske. I am here to demand immortality."

"For whom do you demand immortality?" the voice asked, "The one you imbued with the power, or the Monkey Master?"

"That buffoon is _not_ the Monkey Master," Monkey Fist snapped. "I want the power for me."

"If you, as the high priest, want to walk in my realm, you need to carry the knife of death," the voice, who Kim was pretty sure was Anubis, said.

"I have the knife," Kim said, "and I won't let him grab immortality."

She looked straight at the red glow, and somehow sensed that it was looking back at her. "My name is Kim Possible, I have been bestowed with the curse of immortality and I want it removed. But Monkey Fist can never obtain it."

"Kim Possible…" The focus of the glow moved from her to Ron. "And Ron Stoppable… you fought my incarnation, and won."

Ron chuckled nervously. "Yeah, sorry about that, our mistake. I hope you didn't take it personally."

"We freed you from having to do what Jackie wanted to use you for," Kim said, hoping they hadn't angered Anubis.

"I was never in need to be 'freed,'" Anubis said, "Nor do I hold a grudge against those who use or fight my incarnation. That part of my spirit is for humans to use in their realm as was agreed upon. My true power lies here."

"Okay… but can you remove the curse?" Kim asked.

"The high priest bestows and removes the ability to walk the realm beyond," Anubis' voice replied, beginning to sound irritated, "I do not have time to instruct you on these mere issues, use the instructions on the scrolls you have." Then, suddenly, the presence moved away. The red glow remained, indicating that the portal was still open.

"Okay… now what?" Ron asked, "What do you remember of the scrolls you read at Yamanouchi?"

"Not here in front of Monkey Fist," Kim said, "We'll have to defeat him first."

Monkey Fist glared at the teens with a wicked grin. "How do you think you fare against thirteen to two odds?"

Ron was not amused. "There's only one of you dude."

Monkey Fist just chuckled and turned to the statues. "I am the current high priest of death. You will do as I command."

The jackals stood straight and bowed to the simian villain.

"Uh-oh," Kim muttered as she got in a defensive position.

"Get rid of the buffoon and capture the girl," Monkey Fist ordered.

Even though Kim could not be beaten, she wasn't able to do much damage to the jackals either. They were surprisingly fast for their size, and incredibly strong too; when Kim tried to block a slash from a stone sword with her arms, she was knocked clear through the room.

Meanwhile, Ron was using all his mad running away skills to dodge the strikes from the four statues that were chasing him. "KP, sidekick in trouble!"

Kim was already up again and kicked the jackal closest to Ron, succeeding in cracking its nose.

"This is going to take a while," the redhead muttered; she had put all her strength in that kick. "Time to change tactics."

She jumped in between two jackals and waited for the last possible moment before they would hit her. Then she jumped up and twisted into a horizontal roll, allowing the stone swords to pass below and over her.

With a loud crash, the jackal statues broke off each other's arms.

"Badical!" Ron cheered just before he barely ducked under a strike that could have decapitated him.

"Head in the game Ron," Kim chided, "we're not done yet."

Monkey Fist had positioned himself outside of the battlefield so Kim or Ron couldn't use him as a shield, but with two jackals down and the others not seemingly inclined on learning from their comrades' mistakes, he knew he had to do something. "Only catch the girl, leave the buffoon alone for now. And don't use your weapons against each other!"

Kim fought for all she was worth, but the statues just cornered her until there was no place to run anymore. To her credit, Kim managed to take one more jackal down before they grabbed her.

Try as she might, Kim couldn't get out of the firm grip the jackals had on her wrists. And her arms were pulled so far out that she couldn't use her legs to kick at the restraining jackals either.

Standing with her arms forced apart by grips over her shoulders, Kim glared at Monkey Fist. "You're still not getting immortality, and I can play the waiting game a lot longer than you can."

Monkey Fist grinned. "You seem to have forgotten what Anubis said. You are the knife for now. I can use you to gain immortality without a problem."

Kim only glared in response.

Evading a kick Kim aimed at him, Monkey Fist stepped over to the red glowing portal and stuck his hand through. A moment later he pulled his hand back and, much to Kim and Ron's surprise, held a trail of red light in his hand.

"If you won't come to the portal, it will have to come to you," the villain said and grabbed Kim's arm with his hand that held the line of red light.

Kim gasped and slumped down. Immediately the red glow expanded and sucked in Monkey Fist while leaving Kim unconscious… or worse.

"KP!" Ron screamed as he tried to get past the remaining jackal statues that had stopped moving the moment Monkey Fist had disappeared. His girlfriend still hung in he clutches of the two statues that had captured her and she seemed completely out.

* * *

Kim felt two inches tall as she tried to stand up in… whatever she was in now. Monkey Fist on the other hand seemed like an all-powerful giant and was laughing maniacally as he admired the feeling of his new power.

"Immortality! The world will tremble before me, HAHAHAHAHA…"

Kim winced at the horrible echoes that bounced back in this bizarre place. Her only bit of good fortune was that Monkey Fist hadn't paid much notice to her.

In the far distance, if there was such a thing in this realm, Kim could see the portal. "_I have to get back. I have to warn Ron about Monkey Fist's powers."_

Just then, Monkey Fist seemed to notice Kim. "I guess you're no longer needed," he said as he tried to step on her.

Barely able to roll away to avoid being crushed, Kim knew she was in deep trouble. She would never reach the portal before Monkey Fist caught her, and even though the villain was here body and spirit, Kim somehow knew her physical body was still on the other side of the portal.

"_Ron! Please… you have to hear me!"_ Kim thought frantically as she focused her mind on the connection with her body.

* * *

"KP, no…" Ron had finally managed to get past the statues and was now standing next to Kim's lifeless body. Ron was extremely relieved to feel a heartbeat, however faint it was.

"Stay with me." He tried to break open the clutches of the jackal statues around Kim's wrists, but to no avail; whatever type of stone it was, it was too strong for Ron to crack it.

"Ron…" a faint whisper caught his attention.

"KP?" He looked around, but saw nothing.

"Ron… please hear me…"

"KP, where are you?" then he looked at the portal. "I'm coming to rescue you."

"No!" the strain in Kim's voice made it clear that she put all her effort into making this word as clear as possible. "You'll die if you go through the portal without holding the knife..."

Suddenly, Kim's whisper was replaced by a pained cry that nearly broke Ron's heart.

* * *

Kim felt like she was being ripped apart, and for all she knew that might actually be the case.

"Don't even try to contact the buffoon," Monkey Fist said as he held her in a beam of energy. "I will deal with him in a moment."

The pain was unlike anything Kim had ever experienced before. It didn't resemble physical pain at all, but it felt like her mind was being twisted and her very being was bended out of its natural order.

When she was finally released from the violent beam of energy, Kim slumped down, desperately trying to gather her thoughts and sanity.

"I would destroy you right here if you didn't still possess the knife," Monkey Fist then growled, "So I'll settle for this instead."

Kim had just time to recall what the knife of death could do in this place when her pattern of thought was shut off again as Monkey Fist hit her again with the energy beam.

"Hand me the knife and it will be over," the deranged villain said with a grin. "No more pain, and the buffoon will join you soon too."

The idea almost sounded reasonable to Kim; at this point she would do anything to make this stop.

"_No, got to hang on… I have to tell Ron…"_

* * *

"Ron…" After what seemed like an eternity, but was only a couple of seconds, Kim's whispered voice returned. Although this time it sounded even more pained.

"KP," Ron cried out in relief, "please tell me you're okay."

"Could have been better…" Kim's voice disappeared for a moment when she tried to focus her mind against Monkey Fist's assault. "You have to use the knife…"

"How?" Ron asked, "Where is the knife?"

"Follow… the connection from the portal to my body… and rip it out… it's bound to my spirit."

The very thought of ripping anything from Kim's body gave Ron the shudders, but he pushed back the thoughts; what Kim was facing now was clearly much worse.

"After that… hold your hand with the knife through the portal… and twist when I tell you to."

Ron nodded weakly to no one in particular; he was completely dumbstruck, but he still wanted to help Kim.

After taking a better look at the red glowing portal, he could see a vague bluish line extending from the center of the portal and webbing out to Kim's body.

Grabbing hold of the line, Ron first tried to pull Kim back. But when he pulled, the line became dangerously thin and Ron was afraid he would snap it. So instead, he pulled the wire the other way.

* * *

"Y-you win," Kim cried, still very much in bizarre pain and fervently hoping Ron knew what to do. "I can't take it anymore… I'll give you the knife."

The pain subsided to just bearable and Monkey Fist grinned. "Then hand me your lifeline."

"No need," Kim said, wincing when she suddenly felt her connection with her body snap. "_Ron, hurry up, my body can only take this for a very short while._"

"I took the knife here," she then said, moving her gaze to the distant portal. True to what she said, the knife seemed to float near the edge of the gate.

Monkey Fist smirked as he rapidly moved to the portal. "Good luck settling here. I'll make sure the buffoon arrives here in a few seconds."

A mere moment before Monkey Fist could reach the weapon, Kim gathered all her remaining strength and shouted, "Ron, now!"

* * *

Ron had felt almost sick for pulling at Kim's lifeline – he was pretty sure it was something like that – but he knew he had to do what she told him to do; her voice had sounded really weak in the end.

He didn't feel resistance when he began pulling, but he did notice the 'line' getting tenser, although it didn't get thinner like had happened when he had pulled the other way.

Then, suddenly, the lifeline pulled free and in a flash of light a dagger fell into Ron's hand. The weapon didn't have Ron's interest though, because the sight of Kim's slack body took his breath away.

Somehow, she seemed really gone now. Ron knew that if he felt for a heartbeat, he would find none.

"_Please, work,"_ he mentally begged and pushed his hand holding the knife through the red glow.

* * *

Monkey Fist grinned wickedly as he grabbed for the knife that floated against the portal; he was mere moments away from complete immortality, even more than what Kim had obtained; he would have some tremendous powers to boot.

"_Stupid girl," _he thought, "_giving up at a little pain… okay, a lot of pain, but still._" Monkey Fist knew that if Kim had an inkling of what he was planning to do, she would have never given up.

But then, suddenly, the knife twisted and cut through Kim's lifeline. In the distance, Monkey Fist heard Kim's suppressed gasp as she was now fully cut off from the human world. But he barely registered it as it dawned to him that he was tricked. Without the connection to the knife, he had lost all protection in this world.

Just as he debated whether to move back and use his dwindling powers to finish off Kim as revenge or to try and move back through the portal, causing him to exit as an aged man – that was the risk of wandering through the realm of death – Ron, still holding on to the knife, stepped through the gate, blocking the exit for Monkey Fist.

* * *

Moving through the portal to save Kim, Ron – essentially as the new high priest of death by carrying the knife of death – felt enormous powers well up in him. Unlike Monkey Fist though, his goal was not domination. "KP!"

Semi-consciously and already feeling her connection with the human world dwindling, Kim looked up and smiled weakly. "Hey Ron."

Moving over in an instant, Ron scooped up Kim and carried her back to the gate. "I won't let you die."

Kim didn't say anything; there wasn't much to say at this point and even if there was, she felt too weak to do so.

Just as Ron stepped back through the portal, holding Kim in his arms, he felt something tug at his shoulder. When he looked behind him, Ron noticed that Monkey Fist was desperately clinging on to him in hope of returning to the human world as well.

Since he was holding Kim, Ron couldn't rid himself of the simian villain. But somehow, the realm of death seemed to suck Monkey Fist back and Ron had to put a lot of effort into getting himself, Kim and, although unwillingly, Monkey Fist through the portal.

Two things happened when Ron stepped back in the human world. First, Monkey Fist shot past him and slammed into one of the jackal statues that held Kim and then bounced off to hit the other as well, decapitating both. The second thing was a bright flash of light that shot from his arms into Kim's body.

Almost immediately, Kim coughed and looked up. "Hey Ron… thanks for getting me back," she croaked.

Ron was too relieved that Kim was still alive that he completely forgot her bonds and pulled her in a fierce hug.

Kim smiled and rested her head on Ron's shoulder. "I'd like to return that hug… could you get me free of these statues?"

"Of course," Ron said with an embarrassed chuckle and began looking around for something to break the stone hands with.

Before he found something though, the portal grew until it covered the entire wall and a gigantic creature stepped through that looked very much like a human with a jackal head.

* * *

"How dare you break the rules like this?" Anubis – for it had to be Anubis – demanded. "The deal is that I leave your world alone and you leave my world alone. And there is only intervention when the set-up rules are respected."

Ron stepped in front of Kim and faced the creature. "You'll leave KP alone. She can't help that this happened."

Kim had to admire Ron's bravery; he stood up for her even though she could see him trembling. She too wanted nothing more than to get away from here, but her restraints pretty much blocked that option.

Anubis mowed Ron aside with one hand. "Your presence as a master of power does not threaten me here, and you didn't do anything wrong to begin with. You stay out of this."

The jackal-headed creature turned toward Kim, who tried to move as far back as the stone grips around her wrists allowed. "You denied your right but still went through the gate to my realm… only to mock me by breaking the rules that have been set."

"I-I wanted to get rid of…" Kim began to explain, but was silenced when Anubis spoke again.

"I don't care for your reasons. You will be punished for this ordeal."

"No!" Ron shouted. "Please, leave Kim alone, punish me instead."

"Ron!" Kim cried, but turned back to Anubis. "No, please, not that."

Anubis looked angrily back and forth between both teens. "Vey well, you will both receive the same punishment."

They both prepared for the worst when the creature drew in a deep breath.

"Neither of you will ever be allowed the power of immortality, and neither of you will ever be allowed back in my realm until your time on earth has passed. You will lose your priest status forever."

Kim and Ron looked at each other in complete confusion, but didn't dare to object.

Then Anubis turned to the unconscious form of Monkey Fist. One of the jackal statues that was still intact grabbed the villain and pulled him up.

Anubis' eyes glowed for a moment and suddenly Monkey Fist tensed up and opened his eyes, only to look in utter fear at the keeper of the realm of death.

"Your utter lack of respect for not only my rules, but the rules of other ancient powers as well, deserves only the highest of punishments," the creature spoke.

"No… p-please, you can't…" Monkey Fist's pleas were interrupted when Anubis waved his hand dismissively and the self-proclaimed monkey master disappeared in a vortex of light.

As he turned around, Anubis looked menacingly at Kim and Ron. "I never want to see you two again, is that clear?"

The teens meekly nodded. But before they could say anything a powerful gust of wind forced them to close their eyes, and then the world turned into chaos.

* * *

It took Kim a moment to realize that the chaos around her wasn't the world collapsing, but instead it was a sandstorm raging around her.

Trying to cover her face with her arms, Kim noticed that the hands of the jackal statues were still wrapped around her wrists. _"Oh no, I can't still be stuck!"_ Being trapped like this in a sandstorm would certainly kill her.

But then her arms moved and she could see that the hands of the statues were in fact the only things that were still attached to her wrists.

"KP!" Ron shouted from a nearby spot.

"I'm here!" Kim called back. "I'm kinda stuck."

A shadow appeared in the already dark sandstorm and Ron became somewhat visible. "KP! Are you okay?"

"I think so." Kim coughed against the sand. "We need to find some shelter though."

Ron helped Kim with the weights around her arms and they stumbled downwind for a while in search of anything that could provide a shelter. Eventually they had to settle for a small upright rock that shielded them at least from the worst of the sandstorm.

Too exhausted to try to break free from the stone hands, Kim just got in a position that was as comfortable as possible and curled up. A moment later she felt Ron's arms around her. Smiling, she put her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. It didn't take long before they both were asleep as the sandstorm raged on around them.

* * *

Some time later, Kim woke up to a beeping sound.

BEEB BEEB BEEEB BEEB

She tried to grab the Kimmunicator from her pocket, but her arms wouldn't move.

"_Oh yeah, I forgot… stupid statues._" With a groan of effort, Kim finally managed to move her hand such that she could answers the call from the Kimmunicator. "Hey Wade."

"Kim! I've been trying to reach you for several hours," Wade said, hugely relieved that Kim was okay. "What happened?"

"A lot," Kim muttered as she tried to sit up so she could look at the screen of the Kimmunicator that now lay in the sand.

"Morning KP," Ron mumbled as he too began to wake up. "Hey Wade."

"Do you have anything to shatter stone?" Kim asked as she, with some difficulty, showed her hands.

"Sure," Wade said, "just hold the Kimmunicator against the stone. I will send out a short-ranged supersonic sound pulse that should break stone easily."

Ron held the Kimmunicator against one of the stone hands and Wade sent out the signal. A moment later, the stone shattered to small bits that fell off Kim's hand.

Her other hand was quickly freed as well, but a small stone splinter broke off and cut into Kim's arm.

"Ow." Kim winced as she reflexively rubbed the small wound that had drawn a little blood. But then her expression cleared. "Ron… I can get hurt again."

It took Ron a moment to understand what she meant, but then he too began to smile broadly. "So we did lift the curse… seems like Anubis' punishment wasn't too bad after all."

"What are you guys talking about?" Wade asked, feeling rather left out.

"We'll tell you on the way home," Kim promised, "but for now, do you have any transportation?"

"Coming right up," Wade said, "the sandstorm slowed any help down a bit, but there should be a jeep within half an hour."

After Wade closed the connection, Kim and Ron looked around; the whole landscape had been changed by the storm.

"Seems like Anubis didn't want his temple revealed again," Ron mused.

Kim nodded. "And maybe that's for the best… if more people like Monkey Fist came to find it…"

Suddenly, a hairy arm burst out of the sand, causing the teens to jump up and stumble backwards.

As they fell down, Kim and Ron saw how Monkey Fist dug himself out of the sand. A few shakes and most of the sand fell away from him.

Then he stood up and looked at the teens who still sat on the desert sand.

Kim and Ron exchanged a worried glance; how did Monkey Fist escape Anubis' wrath?

Monkey Fist growled something incoherently and suddenly began to screech and pound his chest. A few snarls at the dumbfounded teens later, he turned around and ran off on his hands and feet.

Ron gulped. "Do you think he lost it?"

Kim nodded weakly. "Maybe that was his punishment."

They shuddered; clearly Monkey Fist had received the worst end of Anubis' anger.

* * *

"It's going to take me ages to get the sand from my hair," Kim complained as they sat in the back of the jeep that would take them to the nearest city with an airport. The sun was slowly rising and the morning air was already warming up.

But as she moved her hand up to feel through her hair, Kim suddenly stopped.

"Something wrong?" Ron asked.

Kim moved her fingers as she looked at her hand. "I didn't really notice this before, but… my body feels a bit like a glove, or a suit… like it's not seamlessly fitting anymore."

"Huh?" Ron stared at his girlfriend in confusion.

Kim tried to explain. "It feels like my mind has to settle back in my body. Now I think back, I think it was a lot worse when we were still inside the temple, just before Anubis threw us out. I just didn't realize it then because we had other issues at hand."

"But you do think it's getting better?" Ron asked, worried.

Kim smiled confidently. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure the feeling will be over before we're home."

_

* * *

Brown eyes gazed into green, tear-filled eyes. "KP… it's time for me to go."_

"_I know." Kim held on closer to her man, "We had a wonderful life. You promise to wait for me?"_

"_Of course." the 96-year old man smiled weakly. "But take all the time you need."_

"_I don't think my time will be much longer." the redhead, similar of age as her husband but who still didn't look a day older than seventy, smiled softly. But she saw it was too late, as Ron had left the world of the living._

Kim shifted in her bed, a sad, but soft smile on her face as the dream continued.

_Surrounded by her youngest son, several of her grandchildren and even more great-grandchildren, Kim walked past the gravestones of the cemetery. Many people she had loved and cared for lay here: her parents, her brothers, four of their children. A little while further was the Jewish cemetery where Ron's parents, and now Ron himself, lay._

_A few other people walked by and Kim heard them comment how great it was that families still came here together._

"_I know," Kim whispered with a soft smile, low enough the others could not hear. "As long as your family remembers you, you really do live on forever."_

END

**

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A/N: **I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I did writing it. I know it says 'END' here, but there will be an epilogue in which some loose ends are tied up. I hope to post that one soon.


	9. Epilogue

Thanks everyone for reviewing, I'm sorry it took me so long to write the epilogue. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Disclaimer: **Kim Possible and related are the property of Disney which, contrary to common belief, I do not own.

Special thanks goes to _Slipgate_ for beta-reading. Also thanks to _Data Seeker_ for giving me the idea for the second part.

**

* * *

Epilogue: Loose ends**

**

* * *

Aftermath**

"How are you doing dream-wise?" Ron asked as he and Kim were walking to school the next Monday.

Kim thought a moment before answering. "Well, the future nightmares are gone… I had a couple of future dreams the first nights, but those were how we grew old together. And I had no trouble seeing the difference between the dream and reality."

"But?"

Kim pretended to look confused for a moment, but gave up when she saw that Ron was not buying it. "The time in the realm of death still haunts me… but it isn't as bad as the first time," she said, referring to the flight back where she had suddenly woken up with a scream of pain that nearly caused Ron a heart attack – something that neither teen had been able to settle down from for a few moments.

Kim saw that Ron was still worried though. "Don't worry, it's just the memory from the… pain, or whatever it was in there. It will fade, I know it will."

Without her even noticing when he did it, Ron had put his arm around Kim's shoulder. "If there is anything bothering you… you have to let me know."

Kim smiled and snuggled a bit deeper into the hug. "I know…" she murmured. She wanted to add so much more, but just couldn't come up with the words. But then she found just how soothing their silent company was.

**

* * *

Payback**

"So, Kimmie… I heard you can get hurt again." Shego grinned at her adversary. "And yet you dare to fight me?"

Kim smirked in return. "I did it before, I can do it again. I thought you would be the one trying to get out of humiliating defeat."

"I'm pretty sure you were the one being humiliated the last time," Shego retorted, raising her glowing hands in a fighting stance.

Kim's grin didn't waver. "That's right," she conceded. "I guess I still owe you a payback for that."

Shego was immediately on guard, but it proved useless when Kim trained a weapon on her that had a striking resemblance to the redhead's grappling gun.

It became clear to Shego that this weapon was, in fact, not Kim's normal disguised hairdryer as the wide-angled beam completely enveloped the green-skinned woman.

"What did you just do?" Shego asked, worried; she didn't feel different, but on the other hand she knew there was something wrong.

Kim's grin transformed into a cruel smirk. "Getting my revenge." she replied.

Before Shego could ask what the younger girl meant by that, her jumpsuit began to turn into dust. Within seconds there was nothing left of Shego's clothes, forcing the woman to quickly cover herself up with her hands; despite what some people tended to think, Shego didn't like other people to see too much of her.

Just when Shego desperately looked for some place to hide or something to better cover up with, Drakken and Ron stumbled into the area where Kim and Shego had been fighting. They were both holding a death-grip on the remote of Drakken's latest doomsday device, but the moment they saw Shego, their fight abruptly broke off and the remote fell uselessly to the ground while villain and sidekick alike stared wide-eyed and open-jawed at Shego.

"And you wanted to tape me being humiliated?" Kim asked, that cruel expression still on her face. "I guess payback is what you deserve then." With that, the redhead walked off with a satisfied grin.

Shego glared at Drakken and Ron, contemplating shooting them with her plasma, but that would mean moving one of her arms. And even though both men still stood frozen like practice targets, she didn't want to lose what little cover she had.

"WHOA, seriously," a new voice suddenly sounded from behind Shego. "That is one cute-AAAAAHHH!"

This time Shego couldn't take the insult anymore and she blasted Motor Ed against the wall before he could say it. "How did he get here?" she demanded indignantly.

"WOW!" Clearly, Motor Ed was unfazed by the plasma, even though his hair was smoldering. "She's hot, seriously."

Just when Shego thought she couldn't take any more, another door opened and Dementor came running in with half a dozen henchmen. "Vhat are you doing here? Thiz is my allotted time in zhe timeshare lair… Vhat is going on here?"

* * *

"GHAAA!" With a loud cry, Shego sat straight up in her bed. Even though her hands were still shivering, the first thing she did was to check whether or not she was clothed.

She was, although her green pajamas were drenched in cold sweat. Shego put her face in her hands. "_This is the fifth time in two weeks. I can't take this anymore_." she thought, squeezing her drenched forehead hard as she tried to get the images out.

Over the last two weeks, Shego had sworn off eating lasagna, drinking chocolate milk – coco moo, as Drakken still insisted it should be called – and drinking alcohol before going to bed; none of it worked. If anything, the dreams were only getting worse; Motor Ed had been a regular since the second dream, but Dementor was new.

Shego had a good idea of what was really bothering her, but she was way too proud to admit having a conscience.

"_The dreams will just pass. The next time I fight Kimmie for real will break the spell… I'm sure of it."_

* * *

That fight came within a week; Drakken had been developing a 'foolproof' plan involving dust storms and houseflies. What concerned Shego about it was the fact that Drakken had made a remote with which to control the entire device. It didn't really bother her that this would mean that Team Possible's nerdlinger could easily hack into the signal; rather, she was acutely aware that almost all of her dreams had involved Drakken and Ron fighting over the remote before Kim shot her.

When Kim and Ron burst into Drakken's lair and split up to fight their respective foes, Shego was more than a little disturbed.

"Well don't you have a comeback?" Kim asked, poised for battle.

Grunting, Shego ran at Kim, her hands glowing, wondering if it was another dream. Kim dodged a punch and performed a leg sweep that painfully convinced Shego that this wasn't a dream.

Shego threw several plasma balls at Kim, who easily dodged them. Shego's nervousness was making her sloppy, which in turn confused Kim and made the redhead more cautious.

Although she had little trouble dodging the chaotic plasma blasts, Kim felt she needed to get to higher ground. Her best way to do that was to shoot the grappling hook into the ceiling and pull herself up to what seemed like a catwalk surrounding the main room.

But the moment she reached for the grappling gun, Shego cried out, "NO! Please don't."

Kim stared in utter confusion at her opponent, who stood with her arms outstretched in a desperate attempt to fend off whatever she thought was going to come toward her. "You… don't want me to jump to the catwalk to get a better position?" Kim asked. Kim could understand Shego not wanting her to succeed at or escape from the fight, but what was causing Shego to beg was beyond her.

Shego opened her eyes again, but flinched when the grappling gun was still loosely aimed in her direction.

Kim shook her head. "What is going on?" she asked. "You've been acting strange ever since we started fighting. You almost seem afraid of me."

"I… uh…" Shego stuttered. Kim's frown increased as Shego stammered to get out an answer. Finally, Shego broke down. "Fine… okay. Look, I'm sorry for what I did to you the last time we fought, but in the end no one saw you… You can't get back at me for that!" The green-skinned villainess shuddered as the memory of the dreams flashed through her mind.

"Wait, what?" It took Kim some time before she finally began to comprehend what her opponent was talking about. The redhead sighed. "Do you think I'm so low as to take revenge on you like that?" she asked in disbelief.

Shego didn't know what to say; a part of her mind knew that Kim would indeed never stoop so low, but she still couldn't shake the fear of revenge by the younger girl. "Look, I don't know why you are suddenly so afraid that I will pay you back," Kim said.

Shego eyed Kim, her cheeks blushing. "I've been having dreams… no, nightmares," Shego admitted, groaning as Kim's eyes flashed at this.

What Shego had thought was a flash of amusement was nothing of the sort, however. Sensing Shego's embarrassment, Kim decided to be sensitive. "I've recently had nightmares of a different sort that wouldn't go away either," she said. "Side effect of being immortal."

Shego stared at Kim, not knowing what to say. "My condition caused mine. Why do you think this is happening to you?" Kim asked curiously.

"I don't know!" Shego retorted, unsure why she was telling Kim anything.

"I have a theory," Kim offered. Shego glared, her emotions in turmoil.

"Why?" she asked impatiently.

A small smile formed in the corner of Kim's mouth. "You're having trouble with your conscience."

"I am not!" Shego snapped, only widening Kim's knowing smile. "Ok, fine. Maybe I do have some trouble with my conscience, happy?"

"It's a step forward." Kim shrugged, but her grin was now full-blown. "You did something very low and you're actually feeling something close to guilt."

"Stop it, will yah," Shego muttered, her green-tinted cheeks pink. "And keep this between us, okay? I've got a reputation to uphold."

Kim chuckled. "Says the woman who is afraid I'll give her a taste of her own medicine."

"In my dream people saw me!" Shego interjected. "Even Motor Ed!" She tried to suppress a shudder.

"Okay, I wouldn't wish that to anyone," Kim said quickly, deciding not to rub it in. "I'll keep this between us. But you'd better not try a stunt like that again," she warned.

Shego nodded, and then produced a small remote control that she tossed toward the teen. "Here, my spare will save your technical guy some time."

Seeing Kim's confused frown, Shego snorted. "It was one of Dr. D's more stupid plans anyway, is that enough to get even?"

Kim shrugged; it was probably more than she could bargain from this anyway. "Alright, we're even."

Watching Kim walk away while she turned off Drakken's doomsday device, Shego couldn't help but let out a small chuckle. "Until next time… Kim."

**

* * *

Idolization**

Several weeks had passed since their mission to Egypt, and life had returned to its normal routine for Kim and Ron.

However, some things had changed, and Ron wouldn't be Ron if he didn't catch his girlfriend's change in behavior and comment on it. "You've been glancing around all the time for days now. Are you afraid we're being shadowed?"

"No," Kim quickly said, a bit shocked at being caught. "It's just… you know…" she slumped down and gave up trying to come up with an excuse. "Ever since Lisa I've been having the feeling that there are more girls, and maybe even guys, who idolize me."

Ron smirked. "And you say I'm prone to bigheady-ness."

"No, that's not it…" Kim stopped, considering her reasoning for a moment. Was she really expecting other girls to be idolizing her? Wouldn't that be bigheaded? "No. I mean, I don't care whether I'm popular… I mean, I like it but… AAARGH, why are you making it so hard on me?"

Ron gave a small grin. "I haven't said anything."

Kim sighed and put her hands over her face for a moment. "I know, I'm completely freaking out here." She looked at Ron again. "Do you think I'm crazy?"

Ron looked at Kim with a bemused smile. "You're asking me?"

That caused Kim to grin as well. "Okay, you may have a point. It's just, I feel watched, you know? It's like they're glancing in my direction but don't dare to talk to me… is it weird for me to think like that?"

"Well… a little bit," Ron conceded. "But there's only one way to find out."

Suddenly he ran off, all the while shouting, "Kim Possible is giving autographs after school! Kim Possible is giving autographs after school!"

Completely mortified, Kim took off after Ron and tried in vain to catch him. "Stop it Ron, this is not funny!"

Finally stopping, Ron looked back and grinned at Kim. "See it as payback for when you revealed my haircut to the entire school."

"That was for your own benefit, and everyone liked it," Kim muttered.

"Except me, and in this case, you, right? Anyway, this way you'll see whether your suspicion was silly!" Ron declared with a goofy smile.

Kim tried to stay angry at her boyfriend, but the silliness of the situation just prevented her from doing that. "Okay, you win."

"Besides, if this turns out to be nothing, I'm the one they'll see as crazy," Ron pointed out.

Kim gave a small smile. "I guess you're right."

* * *

Ron seemed to have been right; the weird looks they had received had all been directed at Ron. Even those were few in number –the students of Middleton High were used to stranger things from the blond-haired teen.

As the school day came to a close, Kim was about to tell Ron he had been right as they walked out of the school when she saw the row of relatively young girls standing in front of the building.

Even though the number of Middleton High students was actually pretty low, somehow the word had spread and students from Upperton, Lowerton, and several of the tri-city middle and elementary schools had all converged here, expecting Kim to do just what Ron had promised. At the head of the line stood Lisa, a beaming smile on her face and her hand subtly trying to cover the autograph Kim had already signed in her notebook.

Kim let out a small "Eep!" and then walked in a daze toward the table that had already been set for her, not even wanting to think who had placed it there.

"Thanks Ron," Kim said later that day, as Ron gently massaged her sore wrist. "But I'm still going to get back at you once I can use both my hands again."

"Can we kill some time until then?" Ron asked with a hopeful smile. Kim looked at him with an eyebrow raised. "Aw, come on… a dead man walking's last request! No?"

Kim said nothing, though she was eventually quirking a smile. "Keep massaging first, dead man walking. We don't have forever to blow off our homework or you lose your chance at those kisses."

"Aw, man," Ron whined, but dutifully continued, hoping his girlfriend would have forgiven him once he was done. "Hey Kim?" he asked, catching her attention.

"Yes, Ron?"

"About what you said about not having forever… I wouldn't have it any other way."

END

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**A/N: **Well, this was really it, the story is finished now. I hope you liked it. Reviews are highly appreciated.


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